Instrumentos para predição do risco de quedas em idosos : possível uso nas estratégias de saúde da família

Abstract

The ageing is a natural process followed by the morphological and functional involution of all physiological systems, which happens in a variable and individual way. The repercussion of populational ageing, considered nowadays as a worldwide phenomena, brings the concern of making this process occur with minimum pathologies and associated functional losses, assuring, thus, the minimization of health risks such as falls and their consequences. Based on that, in this thesis, two original articles about ageing process and the risk of falls as well as their consequences are presented from the evaluation of a total of 317 community elderly living in Midwest regions of Rio Grande do Sul. In the first article, named Physical Activity Level and Risk of Falls in the Elderly, the association between the risk of falling of 127 elderly of the community and the level of physical exercise was presented. The risk of falls was evaluated by Fall Risk Score de Downton, Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) and Functional Risk Test (TAF) and the level of physical activity The risk of falls was assessed using the International Questionnaire of Physical Activity (IPAQ) short version. The majority of the interviewed elderly (88.7%) were classified as active or very active and without risk of falls (TUG 89,8%, TAF 97,6%, Downton 64,5%). The relation between the level of physical activity and the risk of falling using the TUG and Downton tests was significant, in which the most active elderly with minor risks of falls and all the instruments that assessed this risk presented significant association, showing that the physical activity can reduce the danger of falling, minimizing the functional losses caused by ageing. The second article, named Association between Identified Risk and Occurrence of Falls in Three Different Moments: a Longitudinal Study aimed to verify the link between identified risk and the fall incidents in three different moments by TUG, TAF and Downton tests. The total number of interviewees was 317 elderly that live in the county, and studied variables were sociodemographic and health data, level of physical activity, sarcopenia, risk of falls and occurrence of falls in three moments. Advanced age, female gender and physical inactivity had an important role with the identified risk of falls. It was found that there is statistically significant association for the three tests that evaluated the risk of falls (Downton p<0,001; Timed Up and Go p=0,003; Functional Reach Test p=0,023) and the occurrence of those in the previous year to the interview as well as to Dowton (p=0,021) ) Functional Reach Test (p=0,029) and the occurrence of falls 6 months after the interview. It is noticed that, for having association between Downton and TAF and the occurrence of falls in two moments, those could be suggested as instruments of routine for tracking and accompanying of elderly with the risk of falls in the studied population.