Functional capacity, risk of falling and chronic pain in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: a telemonitoring study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare active and sedentary older adults regarding functional capacity, risk of falling, and chronic pain in a population assisted by telemonitoring during the pandemic lockdown. METHODS: This analytical, cross-sectional study included 104 older adults who were telemonitored during the COVID-19 lockdown by a team from a Brazilian Unified Health System outpatient clinic specializing in geriatrics and gerontology. A structured interview was used to collect data. Following normality testing with the Shapiro-Wilk test, Student’s t-test was used for group comparisons. Associations were analyzed using the χ2 test, and the odds ratio was calculated in a 2x2 table of sedentarism and falls in the last six months. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26.0, with p ≤ 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS: The 57 active older adults had a lower rate of continuous medication use (24.84 vs 27.62%), fewer falls (50 vs 32.11%), less pain (12.31 vs 3.83%), and greater independence in basic activities of daily living (44.39 vs 26.46%). CONCLUSIONS: Older adults who were physically active in the midst of social distancing had better functional capacity in basic activities of daily living, fewer falls, and less pain than their sedentary peers. Independence in instrumental activities of daily living did not differ significantly between the groups.