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Association between functional performance and hospitalization of elderly enrolled to family health strategy in the city of Alfenas, Minas Gerais

ABSTRACT

Background

The decline in the functional performance of the elderly may be related to adverse outcomes, including hospitalization. Performance tests, carried out in Primary Health Care, can help to identify older people who are more likely to be hospitalized and who require more attention from the health team.

Objective

To identify if the worse performance of the elderly in functional tests may be associated with hospitalizations.

Method

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 473 community-dwelling elderly enrolled by Family Health Strategy.. Functional performance was evaluated according to the following criteria: static balance, functional mobility, gait, muscle strength, dynamic balance, lower limb strength, and by assessing the risk of falls. Data on hospitalization of participants were obtained from the Decentralized Hospital Information System (SIHD2 / SUS). The analysis of association between functional performance and hospitalization was performed by Logistic Regression models.

Results

In the study, 32.1% of the elderly participants were hospitalized at least once. Hospitalization was associated with balance, gait performance, functional mobility, and risk of falls.

Conclusion

Through functional tests it was possible to observe that the worst performance is associated with hospitalizations and the identification of these factors allows the creation of interventions and strategies capable of avoiding hospitalizations and their adverse effect.

Keywords:
elderly; family health strategy; physical functional performance; hospitalization

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