The relationship between physical frailty and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of elderly

摘要

Objective: To investigate the association between the syndrome of physical frailty and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of elderly users of the basic health care. Methods: Cross-sectional quantitative study. The sample was calculated based on the estimated population proportion and consisted of 203 elderly users of the Basic Health Unit. Tests were applied for screening of cognitive impairment, assessment of physical frailty and sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire. Results: The age and education variables appeared as significant for the group of frail elderlies. The gender, health problems, loneliness, falls and urinary incontinence variables were statistically significant for the non-frail ones. Conclusion: Frailty was related to the sociodemographic variables age and education and non-frailty was related to gender and clinical variables, such as health problems, loneliness, falls and urine incontinence. The identification of the variables associated with frailty allows the development of interventions and specific care for the management of frailty.