The frailty syndrome in institutionalized elderly persons

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the relationship between the level of frailty and sociodemographic and health characteristics among elderly residents of a long-term care facility (LTCF) in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Method: this descriptive and cross-sectional study included 56 elderly persons living in a LTCF. Data were collected from April to June 2016. A questionnaire addressing sociodemographic and health profiles was used together with the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Tilburg Frailty Indicator, the Barthel Index, and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Descriptive statistics were applied. The normality of the continuous variables was tested using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Spearman’s correlation was used for the continuous variables with frailty as the dependent variable. Result: Most elderly individuals were female (57.1%); the average age was 77.77; and 35.7% were widowed. In terms of health, 55.4% presented cognitive deficit; 62.5% had depression symptoms; 75.0% were considered frail; 42.9% had suffered falls in the last 12 months; and the individuals scored an average of 68.30 in the Barthel Index. A positive correlation between the frailty score and the GDS-15 (r=0.538; p=0.00) was observed, while a negative correlation was found between frailty and the Barthel Index (r=-0.302; p=0.02). Conclusion: increased frailty among institutionalized elderly persons is correlated with the presence of depressive symptoms and inferior performance of basic activities of daily living. The results of the present study can support the planning of care provided to elderly individuals living in LTCFs and encourage broader assessments of these individuals.

Correlação entre independência funcional e risco de quedas em idosos de três instituições de longa permanência

“…With regard to data on the occurrence of falls, it was found that 45.8% of the older adults had suffered falls, similar to the result of a study conducted with institutionalized older adults in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais state (20) , in which 42.8% of the participants reported having fallen. Of these older adults who had fallen, it was identified that women fell more than men, corroborating data in the literature (23) which found 71.42% occurrence of falls in women.…”

“…In addition, it was found that most of the research participants went to live at the facility on their own initiative, contrary to data from another study (19) in which all the older adults declared that they lived there because they had no other option. The literature points out that among the reasons associated to older adults being institutionalized is the fact that they have no caregiver, family conflicts, abandonment, "being sick" and do not have a place to live (20) . Most of the older adults have lived at the LTCF from one to five years.…”

“…Most of the older adults have lived at the LTCF from one to five years. The length of stay and sense of belonging to the place is relevant, since the home not only comprises a physical space, but also represents a place which is part of the residents' lives, such as the experienced histories, memories, a place for rest and protection (20) .…”

Functional and cognitive profile of elderly residents in a long‑term care institution in the northeast

“…On the other hand, in the present study, 52% of the population presented dependence for ADL's and 66.6% of them were dependent, which indicates limitations in the functionality of the evaluated subjects. Such a limitation can cause loss of independence in basic life activities, changes in gait and imbalance, remaining in constant reduction in both genders (14)(15)(16)(17) . Fhon, et al (8) , with evaluation instruments similar to those applied in this study, observed a greater dependence for ADL's and also observed that the more comorbidities, the greater the level of dependence of this population.…”

Factors related to sarcopenia and functional capacity in institutionalized elderly

“…Quanto à avaliação da capacidade funcional, pesquisa realizada na cidade de Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil, constatou média de 68,3 pontos entre os idosos, demonstrando divergência com a média da pontuação encontrada nos participantes do estudo que foi 88,53 pontos (16) . Com relação ao grau de dependência, estudo desenvolvido em Maceió, município brasileiro, apresentou percentual maior, em que 38,1% dos idosos institucionalizados eram independentes (14) .…”