Frailty levels of elderly people and their association with sociodemographic characteristics

摘要

Objective Verify the association between frailty in the elderly and sociodemographic characteristics. Methods Cross-sectional population-based study, involving 555 elderly assigned to the Family Health Strategies in the urban region of a city in the Northwest of Rio Grande do Sul/ Brazil. The data were collected between April and December 2015, using an interview with sociodemographic characteristics and assessment of frailty according to Fried’s criteria: unintentional weight loss in the past year, grip strength; gait speed, level of physical activity and self-referred fatigue. Descriptive and analytic statistics were used. Results It was evidenced that, in the older and female elderly, the prevalence of frailty is higher. An association between marital status and housing was observed when analyzed in relation to sex; in addition, when the frailty components were observed, fatigue was associated with sex. In the bivariate and multivariate analysis, relating frailty with the sociodemographic variables, it was verified that age influences frailty. Also, the prevalence of frailty in the study population surpasses that in other Brazilian studies. Conclusion The results appoint aspects related to family care and support for the elderly, which are that necessary as old age advances. Despite the importance of incorporating this care and support into the health teams’ routine for all elderly assigned to the coverage area of the Family Health Strategy, based on our results, elder and female elderly who live alone should receive priority in primary health care.