Health Problems of Institutionalized Elderly

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Sérgio
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Nogueira, Jordana, Silva, Luipa, Tura, Luiz, Rodrigues, Tatyanni, Alves, Maria do Socorro, Marques, Maria do Céu, Alves, Karoline, Lima, Laysa, Silva, Antonia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/20499; https://doi.org/MOREIRA, Sérgio Augusto Paredes et al. Health Problems of Institutionalized Elderly. International Archives of Medicine, [S.l.], v. 9, may 2016. ISSN 1755-7682. Available at: <http://www.imed.pub/ojs/index.php/iam/article/view/1468>. Date accessed: 30 jan. 2017. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3823/1930.; https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3823/1930
• topic: Elderly; Institution of long stay for the aged; Health of Institutionalized Elderly

Introduction: human aging is marked by a decrease in the performance of some daily tasks, some even considered banal and imperceptibly when this limitation is followed by chronic diseases, the elderly becomes a source of concern for the family. Objective: identifying the health problems of the elderly living in long-stay institutions from self-reported diseases. This is a descriptive and quantitative study, conducted in northeastern Brazil capital, involving 138 elderly. For data collection we used a questionnaire containing demographic variables, institutional and related to self-reported health problems. Data were evaluated using bivariate analysis and association chi-square. Results: predominance of women was found (61.6%), aged 60-69 years old (39.1%), coming from the state capital (51.4%), and institutional permanence time between 1-5 years (77.5%). The most frequent diseases were related to the cardiovascular system (15.9%) and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (9.4%). It showed a significant association between self-reported diseases and the age of the elderly (p=0.047). Conclusion: it is expected to raise awareness among health professionals to provide a better assistance to the institutionalized elderly focusing on the real needs of these persons.