Introduction:

The lengthening of human life until very old age has brought about a predominance of disability.

Objectives:

Estimate the prevalence of physical disability among the elderly due to favorable and unfavorable living conditions.

Methods:

A descriptive study was conducted in 2015 of two populations of elderly people from Salvador Allende health area in the municipality of Boyeros: consultation offices identified as having favorable and unfavorable living conditions. The study sample was 87 elderly people in favorable living conditions and 117 in unfavorable living conditions, all of whom were selected by two-stage cluster sampling. The tool Whodas II was applied, considering a person as disabled if at least one of its dimensions was affected. The data were summarized in absolute numbers and percentages. Proportion estimators were calculated with their confidence intervals for the difference between the two populations.

Results:

The prevalence of disability was 71.26% for favorable living conditions and 73.50% for unfavorable living conditions. A statistically significant difference was found between the two populations in terms of the dimension 'capacity to move about in their environment'.

Conclusions:

In both populations a considerable proportion of elderly people presented disability and differences in one level of schooling. The dimension 'capacity to move about in their environment' was the only one showing differences. The remaining dimensions were similar in both groups.

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