FALLS ON ELDERLY AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Luiz Humberto Rodrigues
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Brandão, Jaíne Castro da Silva, Fernandes, Anne Karina Cardoso, Cardoso, Berta Leni Costa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista de Atenção à Saúde
• Texto Completo: http://seer.uscs.edu.br/index.php/revista_ciencias_saude/article/view/4804
• topic: Envelhecimento; fatores de risco; idoso; Aging; risk factors; elderly

Introduction: Aging is associated with reduced muscle and bone mass and loss of balance, which may increase the risk of falls among the elderly. Objective: To evaluate the propensity for falls in the elderly, as well as some associated risk factors. Materials and methods: This is an exploratory-descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 22 elderlies (female = 16; male = 6), aged 60 years or older, enrolled in a Basic Health Unit (Unidade Básica de Saúde - UBS) in the city of Guanambi-BA. Sociodemographic and anthropometric data, aspects of physical health, and performance in the Time Up & Go (TUG) test were recorded in an anamnesis. Descriptive statistics were used with the absolute and relative frequency distribution for categorical variables and the mean with standard deviation for the continuous variables. The chi-square test (X2) was used to observe the possible associations between the independent and dependent variables. Results: Prevalence of female sex (72.3%) was observed. The mean TUG performance was 15.32 ± 4.39 s. The risk of falls was not associated with sex, age, and physical activity (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The generalizations of this study should be made cautiously, since the inferential analysis was performed in a small sample. On the other hand, it must be confirmed that the causes of falls are also multifactorial.