Avaliação da validade convergente e reprodutibilidade do core set da Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde (CIF) para a saúde física de idosos comunitários

Abstract

Introduction: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is presented as a classification strategy that may be useful for the identification of multidimensional aspects related to the physical health of the elderly. Due to the extension of the ICF, the Core Sets are presented as strategies that facilitate its application. A Core Set of the ICF was proposed to classify the physical health of the elderly, but it is necessary to know its validity in relation to measures recognized for this purpose, as well as its reproducibility. Objective: To evaluate the convergent validity of the core set for the physical health of the elderly in relation to validated measures for the evaluation of this domain, as well as its reproducibility. Methods: This is a validity study, composed of a population of elderly residents in the city of Santa Cruz, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. A total of 101 elderly individuals over 60 years old, of both sexes, without cognitive alterations were included. We evaluated palmar grip strength, physical performance in the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and physical activity level by International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) long version. The Core Set of the ICF was also applied, which is composed of 30 categories (14 body functions, 4 body structures, 9 activity and participation, and 3 environmental factors), from which the each component. To evaluate the reproducibility, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was used between two measurements performed in a range of 5-8 days. The association between the core set results and the other research instruments was evaluated using the Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney and Spearman correlation tests. In all the steps were considered 5% alpha and 95% CI. Results: It was observed that elderly individuals with higher levels of physical activity in IPAQ had lower impairment index in the components body functions (p = 0.012) and in the performance (p = 0.002) and capacity (p = 0.005) constructs of the component activity and participation. For SPPB, it was observed that better results are related to lower impairment index in the body functions (p <0.001), body structures (p = 0.006), activity and participation (p <0.001), and lower use of aid devices and medications (p <0.001). A higher palmar grip strength was related to a lower impairment index in the body functions (p = 0.001), body structures (p = 0.004) and activity and participation (p <0.001), and the categories that treated of medication use (p = 0.002) and of aid devices (p = 0.004). The ICC analysis indicated good reproducibility for most components evaluated, with a minimum of 0.59 for the category of access to health services and a maximum of 0.95 for the category of medication use. Conclusion: The results show that the core set is valid in relation to the manual grip strength, lower limbs performance and physical activity level, and reproducible, indicating that the data obtained through this tool can be used with confidence by clinicians and researchers.