Perfil sociodemográfico e acesso ao sistema de saúde de idosos do município de Vitória : estudo populacional

• Autor(a) principal: Madureira, Renata Maria Sales
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (riUfes)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ufes.br/handle/10/5465
• topic: Integral assistence; Elderly; Health care systems; Assistência integral à saúde do idoso; Idoso; Sistemas de saúde; Serviços de saúde para idosos; Saúde Coletiva; Serviços de saúde; Idosos - Cuidados médicos; Assistência à velhice; Política de saúde; 614

Aging is a current challenge to Brazilian society as it has significantly impacted the health system and demanded new provisions to ensure quality of life for elderly people. It is thus essential to know their access conditions to health services as well as their opinion about it. This is a population inquiry, developed through a descriptive, quantitative cross sectional study, which also makes considerations based on some qualitative data. The data was collected through questionnaires. The population consisted of 25.469 elderly registered at Family Health Strategy, considering a proportion of 50% of elderly access to Vitoria Health Centers, a sampling error of 5% and a significance level of 95%. The interview included 422 elderly: 65,2 % female and 34,8% male whose ages ranged from 60 to 103 years old, with a mean value of 71,9 and a variation of ± 8,5 years. With regards to economic aspects, 89,3% of the elderly have formal income. A significant correlation was detected between the variables gender and marital status and between gender and income. The main self referred diseases found were high blood pressure (73,2%), followed by diabetes (25,7%) and osteoarticular disorders (22,4%). Incidence rates of osteoarticular diseases and osteoporosis were higher among females compared to males, whereas cancer and parkinson disease were higher in males. As for the use of the health services, it was shown that 17,8% of the elderly has not attended the health centre in the last 12 months while 15,6% attended it annually. With regards to the kind of service offered at the health center, 77,4% of the interviewees use the services for medical checkups, 69,6% use the immunization service and 54,6% use the pharmacy service. There was no direct relation between access to health services and age range. The quality of the service is considered good by 50,2% of the elderly while 34,6% consider it great. The data also revealed that the aging process varies amongst male and female. This aspect needs to be taken into account in terms of health policy-making. The health service system is adequate to the current elderly health conditions; however, for the near future, the network services need to be expanded in order to meet the needs of the growing elderly population. The current challenge to the Vitoria health system lies on the prevention and the promotion of health at the local level. The development of policies aimed at supporting the fragile elderly and their families is also paramount.