Functional performance in elderly women from an open university for the elderly in a northeast urban area

• Autor(a) principal: Lins,Ana Elizabeth dos Santos
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Simon,Karen Argenti, Ramos,Luiz Roberto
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Geriatrics, Gerontology and Aging (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ggaging.com/details/162
• topic: elderly, functionality, cognition, daily activities, educational status.

<p><b>OBJECTIVE:</b> The aim of this study is to evaluate if people who assist UNITAI is representative in general population related to the sociodemographic characteristics and functional capacity.<br> <b>METHOD:</b> This is a transversal study with a sample of 115 elderly women. The functional performance was measured through the instruments Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); the Brazilian Older American Resources and Services Multidimensional Functional Assessment questionnaire (BOMFAQ) and International Physical Activity questionnaire (IPAQ). Descriptive analysis, chi-square, and Fischer's exact test were used, and the significance level that was adopted was p &lt; 0,05.<br> <b>RESULTS:</b> The sample consisted of elderly women; 67.16 ± 5.5 years; with good cognitive level (27.92 ± 2.3 in MMSE) and with good educational status (74.7% with <u>&gt;</u> 9 years of study); 63.5% without a conjugal relationship, 64.3% with an income &gt; 4 minimum wages; 51.4% reported only one chronic disease. The features that were more associated with moderate/severe dependency were: age over 75 years lower education, being unmarried, having lower income, report two or more chronic diseases. Related to the level of physical activity was considered active elderly women in general, however the prevalence of elderly women with insufficientactive level in leisure time was 49.6%.<br> <b>CONCLUSION:</b> The elderly women who participate in the Open University seems to be a special population, were healthy and active, with a good socio-economic status (higher income and better-educated) were health (fewer comorbidities) and able to perform daily activities without any difficulty. This profile is similar to the elderly from other universities for elderlies, while in many aspects it reflects the reality of the elderly population in the city of Macei&oacute;, Alagoas State.</p>