Prevalência e fatores associados às quedas em idosos de uma instituição de longa permanência

Abstract

This is a descriptive study of a quantitative approach carried out in a Long Stay Institution for the Elderly in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. It presents as objectives: to analyze the prevalence of falls; to describe the socio-demographic profile of the elderly and to analyze the associations between the independent variables related to falls. The data collection was carried out from December 28, 2017 to February 15, 2018. A questionnaire elaborated using the variables considered as risk for falls according to the Protocol of Falls of the Ministry of Health and application of the scale of falls, validated in the country, Morse Fall Scale -MRS. Thirty-eight elderly, 43.8% female and 56.2% male, with a mean age of 76.2 years (SD = 7.2) participated in the study. A database was elaborated through Software Statistic Package Social Survey (SPSS), version 15.0. A descriptive analysis was performed in which the absolute and relative frequencies of the variables were observed, as well as the mean and the standard deviation. For the bivariate analysis, the prevalence ratio (PR) was calculated using the chi-square test (95% confidence interval). Multiple analysis was performed by Poisson regression, and all variables that presented associations with p-value <0.20 were included. The results showed that the general prevalence of falls was 39.6%; 54.2% presented moderate to high risk for falls. The following variables were associated with the occurrence of falls in the last year: dizziness (PR = 8.306, p = 0.002), syncope (PR = 6.231, p = 0.045), intense pain (PR = 4,320, p = 0,025), urinary incontinence or urgency (RP = 4.855, p = 0.018), osteoporosis (RP = 5.769, p = 0.033), vision rating (RP = 4.582, p = 0.015), depression 5,333 p = 0.013). In the multivariate analysis, depression (RP = 14,755, 95% CI 2.543-85.621, p = 0.003) and syncope (RP = 8,558, 95% CI = 1,011-64,144, p = 0.049) remained independent of gender and age. It was concluded that the results achieved in this study are close to what is described in the literature and reinforce the need for a continuous management of geriatric and gerontological care in relation to risk assessment and prevention of falls among institutionalized elderly.