Functional performance, nutritional status and level of physical activity of elderly

The elderly is a risk group for changes in health conditions and as well as in functional performance related to the decline in grip strength and reduced walking speed, which can compromise the performance of activities of daily living. Based on this, the objective was to analyze the factors associated with functional performance in the elderly. For that, a cross-sectional study was developed involving a group of 179 elderly people who received medical care at an outpatient clinic of the public health network. Muscle strength and gait speed were measured. Nutritional status was determined by Body Mass Index (BMI), calf circumference (CC), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Level of physical activity was measured by the adapted version of the Minnesota Leisure Activities Questionnaire. Low muscle strength was found in 20.7% of the elderly and slow gait in 20.1%. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease was found in 40.8% considering WC, and 35.2% by WHR. Most of the elderly had low weight and no loss of muscle mass. Loss of muscle strength was associated with sex and CC and gait speed were associated with sex, age, and presence of a partner (p < 0.05). The chance of loss of muscle strength and lower gait speed was higher in elderly women. Loss of muscle mass due to CC was associated with the chance of loss of strength, and the chance of reduced walking speed was greater among the elderly individuals aged 75 years and over.

Representações sociais sobre fragilidade: concepções de idosos na atenção básica de saúde / Social representations of frailty: conceptions of elder in health primary

O objetivo geral desta pesquisa é identificar as representações sociais dos idosos sobre fragilidade, desvelando sua visão e o significado de como vivenciam essa condição. Trata-se de um estudo transversal envolvendo 179 idosos de ambos os sexos e com idades entre 65 e 91 anos. Os dados foram coletados pela Técnica de Associação Livre de Palavras com os estímulos-indutores: idoso frágil, fragilidade e fraqueza muscular, sendo que os indivíduos deveriam evocar 5 palavras em um tempo de 3 minutos e, em seguida, hierarquizá-las. O material coletado na entrevista foi categorizado e analisado pela técnica de redes semânticas: tamanho da rede (TR), núcleo da rede (NR), peso semântico (PS) e distância semântica quantitativa (DSQ). Os termos mais mencionados foram: ajuda, dependente e cansaço. Constatou-se, que os idosos tinham pouco conhecimento sobre fragilidade, apesar de apresentarem elevado percentual de pré-frágil e frágil. Evidenciou-se que os estímulos-indutores relacionados aos termos idoso frágil, fragilidade e fraqueza muscular foram representados como ajuda, incapacidade, dependente, cansaço e má alimentação. Espera-se que estes dados possam contribuir com informações esclarecedoras sobre a fragilidade no intuito de promover um envelhecimento saudável. (AU)

The objective of this research is to identify the social representations of the elderly about fragility, unveiling its vision and the significance of how they experience this condition. It is a cross-sectional study involving 179 elderly men and women, aged between 65 and 91 years. Data were collected by the Technical Words of Free Association with the inducing stimulus: "frail elderly", "weak" and "weakness", and individuals should evoke 5 words in a time of 3 minutes and then hierarchize them. The material collected in the interview was categorized and analyzed by the technique of semantic networks: network size (TR), core network (NR), semantic weight (PS) and quantitative semantic distance (DSQ). The most mentioned terms were: help, dependent and fatigue. It was found that these people had little knowledge about fragility, despite having a high percentage of pre-frail and frail. It was demonstrated that inducing stimuli related to the terms: frail elderly, weakness and muscle weakness were represented as: aid, disability, dependent, fatigue and poor diet. It is expected that these data can contribute to clarifying information about the fragility in order to promote healthy aging. (AU)