ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate the adequacy of the Clinical-Functional Vulnerability Index-20, a rapid triage instrument to test vulnerability in Brazilian older adults, for the use in primary health care. METHODS The study included convenience sample of 397 patients aged older than or equal to 60 years attended at Centro de Referência para o Idoso (Reference Center for Older Adults) and of 52 older adults the same age attended at the community. The results of the questionnaire, consisting of 20 questions, […]

OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric characteristics of the Mini-Mental State Examination in elderly outpatients who seek primary health care. METHODS: A total of 303 subjects (>65 years) underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment with functional tools, including Mini-Mental State Examination. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and ROC curve were calculated. RESULTS: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and area under ROC curve were 80.8%, 65.3%, 44.7%, 90.7% and 0.807 respectively (cutoff point =23/24). The best cutoff point for […]

OBJECTIVE: To assess the agreement between measures of caregiver’s perception and health provider’s direct observation of performance in daily living activities among home care elderly patients. METHODS: Performance observations were carried out among 40 elderly patients and their respective caregivers were interviewed. During home visits, data on caregiver’s perception were collected by an independent observer using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) instrument. Health providers evaluated elderly patients on their functional capacity in six dimensions: self-care, sphincter control, mobility, walking, communication […]

OBJECTIVE: To describe functional capacity changes of elderly during hospitalization and to assess the correlation of these changes at the time of hospital discharge and sociodemographics and clinical variables. METHODS: There were studied 94 patients aged 65 to 94 years admitted to a geriatric-gerontological hospital unit of a school hospital. The first functional capacity evaluation (number of daily living activities impaired) of the elderly patients was carried out up to 24 hours after admission and the last one immediately after […]