Quality of life in communitie elderly people with functional, nutritional and depressive symptoms impairment: analysis of the association between Brazil and Portugal
Description
Objective: to compare the association of Qol with impairment of functionality, nutritional status and depressive symptoms among elderly people treated in health care (PHC) in Brazil and Portugal. Design: andcross-sectional, comparative, with primary data. Our study hypothesis was that there are different levels of association between Qol and impairment of functionality, nutritional status and depressive symptoms among Elderly Brazilians and Portuguese treated in PHC. Location: APS of the municipalities of Natal and Santa Cruz (Brazil) and the Council of Évora (Portugal). Participants: 150 PHC users, 100 from Brazil and 50 from Portugal aged between 65 and 100 years and interviewed between 2017 and 2018. The research followed the principles of good practice in medical research, taking into account the Declaration of Helsinki during its development. Measurements: we used the Instruments Medical Results Short Form Health Research QoL (SF-36), Prisma 7, Lawton & Brody, Mini Nutritional Assessment and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). Their scores were recategorized as "compromised" and "preserved". As subsamples of committed individuals from both groups and in each aspect were crossed with their variables stavailable of Qol to verify their association. The data were tabulated and organized in tables and banks. Results: we found lower QoL scores and their association with the risk of functional decline, in Brazil, for the physical aspect (p-value=0.006), General Health State (p-value=0.042) and mental health (p-value=0.042) and physical health (p-value=0.031) domains. With nutritional impairment, thegroup of Portugal, including the domains Vitality (p-value=0.049) and Social Aspect (p-value=0.013). In Brazil, for the physical aspect domain (p-value=0.006) and physical health dimension (p-value=0.032). With depressive impairment, Portugal exhibited association in the mental health (p-value=0.016), vitality (p-value=0.050) and social aspect domains (p-value=0.016) and Brazil, in the General State of Health domain (p-value=0.041). Conclusion: QoL was associated with functional, nutritional and depressive impairment, and physical, mental, social and those related to the perception of well-being were associated with. Brazil showed lower scores in functional and nutritional assessment, while Portugal, in depression.