Associação das demandas de saúde e qualidade de vida em pessoas idosas: estudo comparativo entre Brasil e Portugal

Abstract

Background: Aging is occurring at an accelerated pace, but countries have not prepared for this change, which makes this issue a public health problem, provoking the need to investigate which characterize and intervene in a multidimensional way. Objective: This research aims to evaluate the association between the presence of health demands (functional, nutritional and depressive symptoms) with the quality of life (QoL) of elderly people assisted in primary health care (PHC) in Brazil and Portugal. Methods: Observational, comparative, cross-sectional and quantitative study, carried out in the cities of Natal and Santa Cruz in Brazil and Évora in Portugal, with elderly people with preserved cognitive status, enrolled in the PHC. The sample consisted of 150 elderly people, 100 from Brazil and 50 from Portugal. Data collection took place through interviews, using instruments to assess functionality (PRISMA 7 and the Lawton & Brody Scale), nutritional status (Mini Nutritional Assessment - MAN), the presence of depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale, version 15 - GDS15) and QV (Short Form 36 –SF-36). Data were analyzed descriptively and non-parametric statistical tests were performed. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital Onofre Lopes in Brazil and by the Committee of the University of Évora/Portugal. Results: Health demands were present in most of the sample (PRISMA: 64.7%, Lawton & Brody: 58.0%, MAN: 81.3%, GDS-15: 52.0%), especially among Brazilians . The Portuguese achieved the best total QoL score (P25: 53.9, P50: 60.8, P75: 63.9, p-value: 0.006). Among the associations of health demands and QoL, impairment in the risk of functional decline and in nutrition was mainly associated with the physical components and the perception of well-being in Brazilians. The group from Portugal showed an association between nutritional alteration and the presence of depressive symptoms with the domains Vitality, Social Function and Mental Health. Conclusion: It is observed that the main aspects of QoL that are associated with health demands were: physical component (physical aspect and physical health dimension), perception of well-being (general state of health and vitality) and social function (mental health ) and social aspect).