Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the association between sociodemographic, economic, clinical, and behavioral characteristics and the degree of frailty of old people treated in secondary health care.
Method
Cross-sectional, analytical study carried out between May and September, 2018 with 376 old people treated at a Center of Medical Specialties of Belo Horizonte (MG, Brazil) selected by the random systematic sampling method. Data was collected by interviews and tests to assess the frailty phenotype, being analyzed using descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariate analysis using the Proportional Odds Model.
Results
The prevalence of frailty was 25.3%. The variables significantly related to the greater chance of presence of frailty in the old people were female gender, low education, hospitalization and falls in the last 12 months, use of walking aid and absence of physical activity.
Conclusion
The knowledge on the factors associated with frailty allows to improve the planning of health actions and to intervene in the modifiable factors related to frailty, thus preventing its onset, the occurrence of negative events resulting from this syndrome, or even reversing its stage. The results demonstrate the importance of managers of the secondary health care services implementing a methodology to identify frailties in old people, as well as a health care model for the fragile old person to follow and monitor their clinical conditions.
Keywords
Health of the Elderly; Frail Elderly; Frailty; Secondary Care