Functional capacity and its associated factors in older adults in the rural area in Brazil

Aging leads to bodily changes and impairment of functional capacity in older adults. The objective was to analyze the association between socio-demographic and health data, cognitive impairment, and risk of sarcopenia with functional capacity in older adults enrolled in the Family Health Strategies in the rural area of the municipality of Picos, Piauí, Brazil.

Methods & Materials: 

 This is a quantitative and cross-sectional study that was developed with 320 older adults attending the Family Health Strategies located in the rural area of Picos, Piauí, Brazil. The participants were people 60 years old, registered in the Family Health Strategies, and living in a rural area. Data was collected in the older adults’ homes using the following instruments: Demographic profile, Self-reported illnesses, Mini-Mental State Examination, Barthel Index, Lawton and Brody Scale, and SARC-F.

It was found that 70% had cognitive impairment, 53.8% were at risk of sarcopenia, with a mean of 93.72 (SD=11.84) points for basic activities daily living, and 77.8% with partial dependence for instrumental activities daily living with a mean of 16.79 (SD=3.79) points. In the multivariate multiple regression, it was identified that there was an association between Basic Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living with age (p<0.001), number of children (p=0,025), education (p=0.003), monthly income (p=0.018), number of diseases (p<0.001), sarcopenia (p<0.001) and cognitive status (p<0.001).

A high prevalence of functional disability was identified in elderly people living in the rural area of ​​Picos, Piauí, Brazil. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to factors associated with dependence on daily activities.