Objectives:

to explore the relationship between the frequency of consultations of chronic patients and their monitoring during each year of the COVID-19 pandemic and over the total period 2019-2021.

Methods:

retrospective observational multicentre study in primary care in seven university primary care centres in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Subjects:

4314 patients with type 2 diabetes (DM2), arterial hypertension (HT) or both diseases took part.

Measurements:

sex, age, annual in person and telephone consultations with the family doctor, blood pressure tests, tests, and follow-up electrocardiogram and HbA1c and blood pressure as a control.

Results:

patients with a median age of 69 (48-87) years, of whom 2551 (59%) were aged older than 65 years, 2123 (49%) were women. A total of 709 suffered DM2 (16%), 770 HT (18%), and 2835 (66%) underwent both illnesses. Increasing the number of in person or telephone consultations was associated with better monitoring of these conditions, with odds ratios that increased between 1012 (1003-1024) and 1179 (1126-1234) for each additional consultation, calculated annually or over the period; age was a less important explanatory factor. Patients with HT revealed the worst results in the annual monitoring objective and over the period 2019-2021 (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

in Primary Care there is a direct relationship between frequency and monitoring of DM2, HT or their combination, mediated by the patient's age. Patients with HT suffer worse care and monitoring than those with DM2 or DM2 and HT. Phone consultations could be a useful tool for monitoring these patients.

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