Fragilidade em idosos comunitários atendidos pela atenção primária à saúde de um município brasileiro

Abstract

Fragility syndrome is an important indicator of health status in the elderly. The Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) is a multidimensional instrument that evaluates the fragility syndrome, validated and adapted for Brazil. The present study is epidemiological, observational and cross-sectional. With the general objective of applying the EFS in the elderly attended by the primary health care, and as specific objectives to investigate the occurrence of fragility and each domain of the EFS in the evaluated elderly. We interviewed 109 elderly people with a mean age of 71.5 ± 5.5 years. Among them: 22.4% were classified as vulnerable and 10.3% with some degree of fragility. With regard to EFS domains, the ones that presented the highest occurrence were: poor physical performance, poor / poor health perception, feeling sad or depressed, difficulty in controlling the sphincter and functional dependence in two or more activities of daily living. However, the EFS was configured as an instrument capable of identifying the presence of fragility and the main events that make up this syndrome, in the context of primary health care.