Pre-frailty and frailty of elderly residents in a municipality with a low Human Development Index

• Main Authors: Wanderley Matos Reis Júnior, José Ailton Oliveira Carneiro, Raildo da Silva Coqueiro, Kleyton Trindade Santos, Marcos Henrique Fernandes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2014-08-01
• Series: Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem
• Subjects: Envejecimiento; Anciano Frágil; Estado de Salud
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-11692014000400654&lng=en&tlng=en

OBJECTIVE: to identify the prevalence of the factors associated with pre-frailty and frailty of elderly residents in a municipality with a low Human Development IndexMETHOD: Cross-sectional study with a populational and household framework conducted with 316 elderly people. Frailty was determined from the presence of three or more of the following factors: (i) self-reported unintentional weight loss; (ii) lack of strength and energy; (iii) weakness; (iv) slowness; (v) low level of physical activity. The association between frailty and socio-demographic, behavioral and health factors was measured using the multinomial logistic regression technique.RESULTS: The prevalence of pre-frailty and frailty was 58.7% and 23.8%, respectively. The adjusted regression model showed that the state of pre-frailty was associated with gender, age group and BMI, and frailty was associated with gender, age group, hospitalization, functional capacity, and self-perceived health.CONCLUSION: The evidence presented in this study demonstrates more variables associated with the frailty condition, reinforcing the concept of a multifactorial clinical syndrome that may result in the loss of functionality.