Fatores associados à piora da autopercepção de saúde entre idosos comunitários: estudo longitudinal: estudo epidemiológico

Abstract

Aging is defined as an innate, gradual, irreversible and inherent movement in every human being throughout life. It is a growing process in the world population and that affects the individual in different dimensions. Self-perceived health is an epidemiological measurement parameter, known for having good reliability and validity, being robust and easy to apply, in addition to working as a good predictor of important conditions for the assessment of the elderly population, such as: morbidity, mortality and longevity. Furthermore, it is an important indicator of sociodemographic, psychological, cultural and health conditions. As it is a subjective assessment, self-perceived health is multifactorial. It is important to assess which of these factors may contribute to a worsening of self-perceived health over time. Longitudinal studies with the elderly are still limited, which is mainly explained by the sample loss characteristic of this age group throughout the research, making it more difficult to determine causality and worsening relationships. This study aimed to longitudinally assess the prevalence of worsening self-perception of health among community elderly in the municipality of Montes Claros, northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. Baseline data collection took place at the homes of the elderly, based on a random sampling by clusters. Demographic and socioeconomic variables, morbidity and use of health services were analyzed. Frailty was measured using the Edmonton Frail Scale. The second data collection was carried out after a period of 42 months. Adjusted prevalence ratios were obtained by Poisson multiple regression analysis with robust variance. A total of 394 elderly people participated in the two stages of the study, and 21.1% of them had a worsening in their self-perception of health. The variables that remained statistically associated with the transition to a worse self-perceived health assessment were: Asthma, Systemic Arterial Hypertension and Frailty. Self-perceived health was proven to be a dynamic process, characterized by the transition between levels of self perceived health. Factors associated with chronic diseases and frailty showed a longitudinal association with worsening self-perception of health.