Capacidade funcional, nível de atividade física e condições de saúde de idosos longevos: um estudo epidemiológico

• Ano de defesa: 2008
• Autor(a) principal: Nogueira, Silvana Lopes
• Orientador(a): Ribeiro, Rita de Cássia Lanes
• Banca de defesa: Soares, Danusa Dias , Peixoto, Sérgio William Viana
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Programa de Pós-Graduação: Mestrado em Ciência da Nutrição
• Departamento: Valor nutricional de alimentos e de dietas; Nutrição nas enfermidades agudas e crônicas não transmis
• País: BR
• Palavras-chave em Português: Idosos longevos; Capacidade funcional; Nível de atividade física; Saúde; Envelhecimento
• Palavras-chave em Inglês: Oldest old; Functional status; Physical activity level; Health; Aging
• Área do conhecimento CNPq: CNPQ::CIENCIAS DA SAUDE::NUTRICAO
• Link de acesso: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/2700

The increase in longevity and in the percentage of elderly population aged 80 or over in Brazil and in the world seems to be a result of a better health status which is obtained during some periods of life. However, in many occasions the senescence is followed by chronic diseases and physical limitation with a tendency of reducing the physical activity level and, this contributes negatively to the health status and the quality of life among the elderly population. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the functional capacity and the physical activity level in oldest old; it also investigates the socioeconomic, demographic, epidemiological and nutritional factors which determine the functional capacity. In addition to this, it is evaluated and discussed the physical activity level and its association with the health status of these people. It was done a transverse and a population-based study with 129 noninstitutionalized elderly individuals (male and female) aged 80 or over who live in a town called São Geraldo located in an urban zone in Minas Gerais State. The data was collected through a questionnaire and anthropometric measurements (body mass index and waist circumference). In order to evaluate the functional capacity (FC) it was applied a questionnaire developed by Andreotti & Okuma (1999). After the sum of points, the elderly individuals were classified as having the worst functional capacity (good and very good) or the best functional capacity (average, bad and very bad). Concerning the physical activity level (PAL) it was applied the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ short version). Aiming to identify the determinant factors of functional capacity it was elaborated logistic regression models by considering the hierarchically clustered factors. In order to identify the health status associated with the physical activity level, chi-squared analysis were done (Pearson/tendency), odds ratio and Mann-Whitney tests. 129 elderly individuals (53% of women) aged 80-96 were evaluated. The elderly women presented the worst functional capacity and also the lower physical activity level. The factors which were associated, in an independent manner, with the worst functional capacity were being aged 85 or over, being female, not using regularly five or more medications, not visiting relatives and/or friends at least once a week and to consider their own health worst to their partners. Lower physical activity levels were associated with the following factors: aged 85 or over, the worst self-referred health in comparison to their partners, the worst functional capacity and the occurrence of falls in the last three months. These results suggest that the functional capacity is associated with a complex amount of multidimensional factors and that physical activity level is associated with health aspects which are important to these elderly individuals. Therefore, it is crucial that the factors associated with the functional capacity and with the physical activity level, and the physical activity itself should be the aims of social programs which search for improvements on those aspects in which interventions can be made. This way, a better quality of life for elderly individuals could be provided.