Incidência de quedas associada ao estado de saúde e aptidão física de idosas institucionalizadas de Fortaleza, Ceará.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the occurrence of falls in a population of older women living in long-term care institutions for the elderly (ILPI's) and its relationship with health status and physical fitness. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 31 elderly women, the majority being 70 years old or older (81.5%). To collect the data, a questionnaire was used with questions about health conditions and prevalence of falls, adapted from Lebrão and Laurenti and Fonseca and Rizzoto. To assess the level of strength and cardiopulmonary fitness, sit-and-lift, arm flexion, and stationary gait tests were used to evaluate the functional fitness of Rikli and Jones. Results: The majority of the elderly women in the study (54.8%) reported having fallen after 60 years. The presence of chronic non-transmissible diseases was at least one pathology, with a higher prevalence of arterial hypertension and osteo-articular diseases. In the tests of upper limb, lower limb and cardiorespiratory fitness, it was observed that both averages obtained were below the normative values of references, but there was no statistical significance for the relation of the averages obtained with the occurrence of falls in the last 12 months.