Acompanhamento da sarcopenia em pessoas idosas assistidas na atenção primária à saúde no Brasil: revisão integrativa

Abstract

With aging, as a natural biological process, there is loss of muscle mass and strength as a result of an interaction of several factors, in this context Sarcopenia can arise, which has been defined as “a syndrome characterized by the progressive and generalized loss of muscle mass and strength with a risk of adverse outcomes such as physical disability, poor quality of life and death”, in view of all the possible harm that sarcopenia can cause, it is extremely important to observe how the multidisciplinary team has been monitoring the elderly who seek primary health care units with signs and symptoms suggestive of sarcopenia or with the disease already diagnosed. In this sense, the present research aims to analyze studies that address essential elements in care practice aimed at the early detection and follow-up of sarcopenia in elderly people in primary care. This is an integrative review that followed six fundamental steps for its construction, which were the definition of the theme and the guiding question, database research or literature sampling, collection of all relevant data, rigorous analysis of selected studies, recognition and interpretation of results and synthesis of information. 10 articles were part of the study, of which 40% of the studies brought the importance of using instruments for the investigation of sarcopenia as screening tools in primary health care units and thus developing simple and easy methods that facilitate the diagnosis of sarcopenia and capable of developing early interventions to prevent frailty and disability in the elderly attended at these health units. It was noticed that there are still few studies carried out on the subject and that the knowledge of most professionals about the disease is still quite insufficient. The study provides subsidies for further research to be carried out in order to further promote the theme, bringing numerous benefits to the elderly population with sarcopenia, acting in the prevention of injuries and improvement of the quality of life.