O medo de cair está associado à capacidade funcional de idosos com excesso de peso?

Abstract

In order to stimulate a broad evaluation of the elderly person, this study intends to verify the association between the functional capacity and the fear of falling in overweight or obese elderly person. This is a cross sectional observational study, in which 78 overweight or obese individuals aged of 60 years older participated. The participants were submitted to individual evaluation, that began with medical screening, followed by the analysis of functional capacity, done through the Timed up Ang Go (TUG) test and the sit and stand test. Next, the Falls Efficacy Scale – International (FES-I-Brazil) was applied to assess the fear of falling. Linear regression and Sperman’s test were performed. The result of this research shows that there is a correlation between the fear of falling and functional capacity, just as we can affirm that the fear of falling has an influence on bad functional capacity. It is concluded that the tests used in this researched were efficient, low cost and easy to apply. Therefore, its applications offer subsides for the development of actions of promotion and prevention in health, seeking to minimize the numbers of falls and their consequences.