Quedas em idosos institucionalizados: riscos & prevenção

Abstract

The demographic transition in recent decades has changed the profile of morbidity and mortality, resulting in an ageing population, which is a world-wide phenomenon. The forecast for 2020 is that Brazil has 30.8 million elderly, which corresponds to 14.2% of its population, is considered the sixth country in the world rate of population ageing. This new membership has attracted interest in terms of public health and especially health professionals, who should be able to adequately serve this age group of population. The fall risk increases significantly with advancing age, being one of the most important diseases in this age group, becoming a public health problem because of their frequency, associated morbidity and high social and economic cost, especially when it leads to increased dependency and the beginning of life in a long-term institution for the elderly. The present study aims to present a review of literature on risk and prevention of falls in institutionalized elderly, aiming to contribute to promoting the health of these individuals. Studies of the last ten years were reviewed, referring to the virtual database of scientific articles – BIREME, PEDro, Pubmed and Cochrane Library. The number of studies included in this review, after the search and selection, accounted for 15 studies. The results showed a predominantly female sample, a high prevalence of falls in institutions, several risk factors and presence of prevention programs based on physical activities.