Influence of Maternal Anxiety on the Frequency of Paediatric Primary Care Visits

Aim. To know the influence of mother’s anxiety in the number of office visits made by the children al primary care paediatric setting. Design. Case control study. Setting. Primary care. 17th Health Area. Valencian Community, Spain. Patients. 134 mothers. Overuse was defined as number of visits higher than the average of visits in all children plus one standard deviation in a certain period. 14.89% were over users. 46 mothers (35.12%) from over user children and 85 (64.88%) from non over users. Measures. Anxiety scale STAI (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) short form. Mother’s job and number of mother’s children. Results. Mother’s of over user’s children score higher in STAI scale. Number of children or mother’s job is not associated with STAI scores. In multivariate analysis anxiety is an important factor associated to over user’s children. Conclusions. Mother’s anxiety is associated with over user’s children in primary care paediatric setting. This is a modifiable factor to influence in the number of inappropriate office visits.