Relações sociais e desempenho funcional de idosos da região metropolitana de Belo Hhorizonte

Abstract

Introduction: The same demographic aging process that unfolded over more than a century in France will likely occur in two decades in Brazil. Hence the demographic aging, even more necessary is the study and the knowledge of aspects associated to the better function in older people. Social relations are important determinants of functional performance among older adults. Therefore, assessing such aspects is necessary when considering their functionality. Objectives: 1) examine association between social relations and performance of activities of daily living (ADL) in older people, regarding different components of social network (marital status, frequency of social contacts in last 30 days, including child and relatives visits and meeting with friends) and subjective social support (satisfaction with personal relations and existence of people to rely on). 2) Evaluate the prevalence of functional limitation, social network and social support in older people. Methods: 2,072 participants (60 years) resident in Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area were selected by probabilistic sample. Confounding variables included sex, age, education and medical diagnosis for depression and for other chronic diseases. Multivariate analysis was based in Hurdle model that combines a dichotomous component (Negative Binomial) with a count component (Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial - ZINB). The significance level was stated at 0,05. Results: Prevalence of difficulty in carry out ADL was 19,7% and was associated with sex, age and diagnosis for chronic diseases. In relation to social network, infrequent meeting with friends in last 30 days and having no children showed significant associations with functional performance, while in relation to social support, only satisfaction with personal relationships was significant association with functional performance. These associations persisted despite statistical adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, health status and others indicators of social relationships. Descriptive results suggest that older people are, in general, satisfied with personal relationships (81%), have people to rely on (91%) and remained closely ties with family: 56% of participants lived with child; among those who not lived, 51% received child visits at least once a week and 63% received other relative visits at least once a month. Conclusion: Cohort studies showed that both emotional support and total social networks, especially ties with relatives, are associated with development ADL disability and ADL recovery, suggesting a bidirectional association. Our results suggest the need for greater attention to the social networks and needs for social support among older people with functional limitations and to older people with frail social networks and social support. In addition, these results highlight the need of longitudinal studies, in Brazil, in order to better understanding of the direction between functional status, social network and social support in older people.