Incapacidade funcional da população idosa do município Guanambi, Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

Population aging has gained increasing notoriety due to its dissipation across different regions of the planet. At an accelerated pace, it also advanced in countries with less economic development, and it is considered one of the most challenging phenomena in this century due to its multiple consequences. For the elderly population, the repercussions are notable, particularly with regard to their functional capacity, since, with advancing age, disabilities tend to be progressively greater. The objective of the present study is to evaluate functional disability and associated factors in the elderly population of the city of Guanambi, Bahia, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional, population-based study with a household approach. The sample consisted of 449 elderly people aged 60 and over. This study assessed functional disability through Basic Activities of Daily Living (BADL), measured by the Katz scale, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), measured by the Lawton scale, and mobility, assessed by the difficulty or inability to walk 100 meters. For data analysis, simple and relative frequencies were calculated for all variables studied. Bivariate analysis was performed to evaluate associations between the explanatory variables and the outcome, comparing using the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The Prevalence Ratio (PR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to estimate the association with the explanatory variables, using Poisson regression with robust variance. Multivariate analysis was performed, keeping variables with a significance level lower than 0.05 in the final model. The prevalence of functional disability in BADL was 21.3%, in IADL it was 66.5%, and in mobility it was 48.2% of the total number of elderly people interviewed. Around 73.9% had functional disability in one of the three domains assessed (BADL, IADL or mobility). After multivariate analysis, the factors positively associated with a higher prevalence of functional disability were: living in an urban area (PR=1.40;95%CI 1.20-1.64), age between 70 and 79 years old (PR=1.21 ; 95%CI 1.06-1.40) or 80 years and over (PR=1.33; 95%CI 1.17-1.52), not having worked in the last 30 days (PR=1.61; 95%CI 1.16-2.25), having had poor physical health in the last 30 days (PR=1.16; 95%CI 1.05-2.29), self-rated vision as bad or very bad (PR=1.20; 95%CI 1.08-1.33), report of frequently annoying pain (PR=1.23; 95%CI 1.11-1.35), presence of manual dynapenia (PR=1.14; 95%CI 1 .04-1.26) and having had a medical consultation in the last 12 months (PR=1.25; 95%CI 1.04-1.50). Functional incapacity is an important factor that can give elderly people a worse quality of life, being a relevant and harmful condition for active and healthy aging. These results can contribute to the knowledge of the functionality of the elderly, offering subsidies for managers, researchers and health professionals, with a view to directing integrated, transversal and intersectoral policies and actions in favor of healthy aging.