Abstract
Abstract Objective: To analyze the vulnerability of non-institutionalized elderly persons. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study was carried out using data of the City Health Department of Palmas, Paraná, Brazil, and the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13) instrument. The questionnaires of people aged over 60 years who had answered the VES-13 questionnaire between January 2016 and December 2017 were included. The quantitative data were analyzed by the Student’s T-Test and the categorical data by the Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact Test. The correlation between the quantitative variables was performed by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: A total of 1,062 questionnaires were analyzed, of which 57.3% were female, with a mean age 69 (±7.8) years. In total 427 individuals (40.2%) were vulnerable and 635 (59.8%) were not vulnerable according to VES-13 score. A total of 635 (59.8%) elderly persons were classified as robust, 176 (16.6%) as at risk of frailty and 251 (23.6%) as frail. Women and those over 75 years were more vulnerable (p<0.001). Conclusion: Vulnerability was related to the female sex, age over 75 years and the presence of chronic diseases, with these being the priority groups for the elaboration of intervention strategies in the health of the elderly.
Highlights
Human aging alters the main physiological systems, which makes elderly persons more frail and susceptible to impairment of their physical and functional capacity[1]
The present study adopted the classification used by the Health Department of the State of Paraná, in which robust elderly (VES-13≤2) are those individuals who are able to manage their life independently and autonomously, have no functional disabilities or a chronic health condition associated with greater vulnerability
The present study found that people over 75 years of age, who were female and had one or more chronic non-communicable disease such as high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus exhibited greater vulnerability, corroborating literature and studies conducted with elderly Brazilians that show that high blood pressure and/or diabetes is related to greater frailty among the elderly[5,6]
Summary
Human aging alters the main physiological systems, which makes elderly persons more frail and susceptible to impairment of their physical and functional capacity[1]. Social vulnerability can be understood as multidimensional, affecting individuals, groups and communities in different ways and intensities, and on different levels of their well-being. It results from factors such as retirement, income reduction, discrimination, social and family isolation and a deficiency in public policies to support these elderly persons. As it is considered dynamic, it implies income-related poverty, but an understanding of the events that harm social, cultural, political and economic relations. Improving this understanding may contribute to reducing the vulnerability of the elderly, as it is related to the structural factors of society[2,3]
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