Abstract
Objective
To identify frailty prevalence and family functionality level in older people and analyze the association of these variables with sociodemographic characteristics and with access to health care services for older people linked to Home Care type 1 in Primary Health Care.
Methods
This is an analytical cross-sectional study, carried out through home care visits, from October 2018 to April 2019, with 124 older people aged 60 years or older, linked to Home Care type 1 in a health district in Porto Alegre. The Edmonton Frail Scale, the family APGAR and the sociodemographic data and access to health care service questionnaire were used. Student’s t test, Mann-Whitney test, chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Poisson regression model were applied in the statistical analysis. A significant value p<0.05 was considered.
Results
Frailty prevalence was 75%, and 84.7% of the older adults had a good family functionality level. Frailty had a statistically significant association, with a higher age group (p=0.009), a high average number of morbidities (p=0.027), presence of a caregiver (p<0.001), not living alone (p<0.001), cognitive decline (p<0.001) and exclusively home care (p<0.001). Family functionality did not show a statistically significant association with the variables under study.
Conclusion
There was a high frailty prevalence and good family functionality. Only frailty was significantly associated with some of the variables under study. Knowing this specific population is essential so that interventions can be developed, ensuring access to health care services.
Primary health care; Family; Frailty; Aged
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