Self-perception and health conditions of a population assisted in an elderly caregiver program in the city of São Paulo

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate self-perception and health conditions in elderly population assisted in an Elderly Companion Program (PAI, according to its acronym in Portuguese) in the city of São Paulo. Method: Observational study of quantitative approach with the use of secondary data. The sample of 41 elderly people came from the PAI database of a Primary Care Unit, in São Paulo, through the application of the Multidimensional Assessment of the Elderly Person in Primary Care (AMPI / AB, according to its acronym in Portuguese). The information corresponds to the following health parameters of the elderly: age, health self-perception, family arrangement, chronic health conditions, medications, hospitalizations, falls, vision, hearing, physical limitation, cognition, mood, basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, incontinence, unintended weight loss and oral conditions.
Results: Predominance of females, white race, and average age of 81.53 years. Most of the subjects referred to regular, poor or very poor self-perception, living accompanied, having three or more chronic health conditions, using five or more medications per day, absence of hospitalization or falls in the last twelve months, visual and hearing difficulties, absence of physical limitations, worsening of memory in the last year, independence on basic activities of daily living and dependence on instrumental activities of daily living and, still, absence of incontinence, unintended weight loss and oral alterations. As for AMPI / AB classifications, most of the elderly were in the “Pre-fragile” group (51.3%), followed by “Fragile” (39%) and “Healthy” (9.7%). Associations of the “Fragile” group were observed with hearing problems and episodes of forgetfullness. There was a correlation between age increasing and worsening in the result of AMPI/AB.
Conclusion: Predominance of negative self-perception of health, high occurrence of chronic diseases - especially hypertension - and dependence on subjects to perform instrumental activities of daily living. Fragile elderly people reported more hearing difficulties and forgetfulness episodes. There’s a trend of greater health impairment as the age increases.