OBJECTIVE: To relate the physical activity levels and incidence of falls among elderly people in social groups, to their health conditions. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study on a sample of 256 elderly people (219 females and 37 males) of mean age 70.85 years. A form containing questions about health conditions, falls and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used for data collection. The analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and a non-parametric test (chi-square), adopting a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: 201 of the elderly people (79.13%) were classified as very active. Of these, only 38 had suffered falls during the last three months. Low physical activity levels presented statistically significant association with falls and current health condition (p= 0.011). Health condition related negatively with the practicing of physical activity (p= 0.016) and satisfaction with health condition (p= 0.05). Among the elderly individuals with little activity who had suffered falls, 50% reported that their current health was poor. All the elderly people with little activity who had suffered falls said that their current health condition made it difficult to practice physical activity, and only 20% of them were satisfied with their health. CONCLUSION: Regular practicing of physical activity seems to be associated with better health conditions among elderly people and lower incidence of falls.
the elderly; falls; physical activity; health conditions
