Relação entre história de quedas e fatores de risco associados com o perfil de fragilidade em idosas da comunidade

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between fragility levels and the reporting history of falls in elderly community, as well as the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for falls. Methods : Cross-sectional observational study with a sample of 449 elderly women aged over 65 years . Sociodemographic data, clinical status , history of falls and associated factors were obtained by structured questionnaire.Participants were classified as fragile according to the criteria proposed by Fried et al. (2001). The comparison between fragility profile, history of falls and risk factors was performed by Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney test for numerical variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables, considering 5%. Results: Were classified as non- brittle 29 % of the sample (n = 130 ), pre fragile 62 % (n = 279 ) and fragile 8.9% (n = 40 ) . In relation to falls , 35.9 % of the sample reported falls in the last year . To investigate the history of falls among fragility levels was not statistically significant difference (p = 0.485 ) .However, when we consider the risk factors related to falls were observed differences between the frailty levels in the number of comorbidities and medications , depressive symptoms, mobility and education. Conclusion: We did not identify statistically significant differences between the different levels of fragility and history of falls .But risk factors related to the occurrence of these were found between fragility levels which shows the importance of recognizing these factors and early intervention to reduce the number of falls among seniors and their consequences.