ABSTRACT PURPOSE: to compare functional balance, risk of falls, tendency to depression and cognition preservation among institutionalized and non-institutionalized seniors. METHOD: the study was carried out with 56 seniors, 28 composed the study group residents in Lar do Ancião Cidade Ozanan and 28 in a control group. All were appraised with the Mini-Mental Status Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale and Berg Balance Scale. The seniors that presented dizziness as a symptom answered the Dizziness Handicap Inventory as well. For statistic analysis the Chi-square and Fisher Exact Tests were used considering a significance level of 5% in all analyses. RESULTS: the age average of the institutionalized seniors' group was higher than the average of those non-institutionalized and the results of Mini-Mental Status Examination indicated a smaller preservation of the cognitive aspects among the institutionalized seniors. Eight non-institutionalized seniors presented dizziness as a complaint, and the average found in Dizziness Handicap Inventory of this group was higher than the one found in the institutionalized group. The functional balance evaluation revealed that the institutionalized seniors had a lower medium score than the non-institutionalized ones, and they also presented a larger tendency to falls and to depression. CONCLUSIONS: the institutionalized seniors presented worse results in the evaluations of the cognitive aspects, functional balance and tendency to falls, and also in the frequency of symptoms of depression.
Aged; Depression; Postural Balance; Cognition; Institutionalization
