Abstract
Objective The objective of this study was to assess the fear of falling and restriction of activities in the elderly of the city of Londrina (PR). Materials and method A cross-sectional study was conducted with individuals over 60 years old of both sexes. They were interviewed at their home with the Falls Efficacy Scale International - Brazil the Survey of Activities and Fear of Falling in the Elderly a socio-demographic and health perception questionnaire. Results The participants were 38 elderly people (mean age 71.6 ± 6.1 years) with a prevalence of women (68.4%). The occurrence of a fall in the last year was reported by 44.7% of the elderly, and the prevalence of the fear of falling again by 56.3%. In the evaluation of the Falls Efficacy Scale, 97.4% of participants reported fear of falling in at least one of the activities while 55.3% had score ≥ 23 points showing high risk for falls. Fifty two percent of the elders restricted their activity due the fear of falling. Conclusion These results show a high frequency of fear of falling associated with restriction of activities and individuals with a high risk potential for falls. The evaluation of this data contributes to establishing indicators and development of preventive strategies and specific interventions for the elderly with fear of falling.
Highlights
The Brazilian older adult population has been experiencing accelerated growth and tends to continue increasing in the decades to come [1]. This process is intimately connected to low birth rates and the decreased Brazilian mortality rate, which in turn is associated with advances in the health field and the current improvement of social conditions
The FES-I-Brazil scale was created by the European organization Prevention of Falls Network Europe (PRoFaNE), adapted and validated to the Brazilian older adult population by Camargos et al [11]
According to IBGE [15], the life expectancy of women exceeds that of men and this fact can explain, in part, the greater proportion of older women with respect to older men
Summary
The Brazilian older adult population has been experiencing accelerated growth and tends to continue increasing in the decades to come [1]. This process is intimately connected to low birth rates and the decreased Brazilian mortality rate, which in turn is associated with advances in the health field and the current improvement of social conditions. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), life expectancy in 2008 was 72.7 years, and it is projected to increase to 81.29 years by 2050 This means that adults aged 65 years or older will compose more than 22.7% of the population, compared to 6.5% in 2008 [3]. In Londrina, state of Paraná, Brazil, population aging has followed national parameters and the data in 2009 indicated that 12.1% of the population consisted of individuals aged 60 or older, being that in 1970, they were represented by only 4.4% of the municipality’s total population, an expressive increase of older adults [4]
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