Elderly people with self-reported systemic arterial hypertension: health conditions and functional capacity
International Journal of Development Research
Elderly people with self-reported systemic arterial hypertension: health conditions and functional capacity
Received 14th June, 2018; Received in revised form 17th July, 2018; Accepted 10th August, 2018; Published online 29th September, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Luana Caroline Gaviraghi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Systemic arterial hypertension with a significant incidence in the elderly population, associated with functional disability and other comorbidities, is a public health problem. This study aimed to verify the functional capacity and comorbidities of elderly patients with systemic arterial hypertension. It is a cross-sectional, population-based study using questionnaires on sociodemographic, behavioral and anthropometric data, as well as on morbidity, use of medicines and functional capacity assessment. We interviewed 286 elderly individuals who self-reported arterial hypertension. There was predominance of the female sex (70.3%), age between 60 and 70 years (40.6%), and from 0 to 4 years (55.9%) of schooling. Regarding functional capacity, 74.8% had maintained it and were independent for daily life activities. Most of the hypertensive seniors have maintained their functional capacity, however, approximately one-fourth presented functional dependence with limitations to perform activities of daily living.
