Resumen

ALONSO GALBAN, Patricia; SANSO SOBERATS, Félix José; DIAZ-CANEL NAVARRO, Ana María  y  CARRASCO GARCIA, Mayra. Diagnosis of frailty in urban community-dwelling older adults. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2009, vol.35, n.2, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

Objectives To make a diagnosis of frailty in an older adult population living in an urban area cared for by the Basis Working Group "Palatino" in the health area "Antonio Maceo", Cerro Municipality, City of Havana, Cuba. Methods An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in a population aged over 60 years in 2005. The universe of older people was made up of 699 persons but only 541 were studied because they fulfilled the inclusion criteria. For estimating the fragility prevalence, the Geriatric Scale of Functional Assessment was applied to all the elderly included in the study and they were then classified as frail and non-frail according to the present Cuban criteria. The collected information served to make a database for the analysis through frequency distributions basically. Results Of the studied older people, 51.4% were identified as frail. It was found that the prevailing frailty criterion was consumption of many drugs (35,5%) and that the relative risk of frailty in female elder is 1,33 higher than the male older person, that is to say, the frailty condition was associated to the feminine sex. Conclusions Frailty in older people is a highly prevalent condition in the "Palatino" People´s Council population, in which the consumption of many drugs has great incidence.

Palabras clave : Frailty; older adult; community; primary health care; frail elderly; frail older adult; aging; family medicine.

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