Disability among elderly women in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To estimate disability rates and explore associations, identifying the most significant socioeconomic markers associated with the prevalence of mobility disability among elderly women. Methods: National mobility disability rates were estimated based on information from the 1998 National Household Survey (PNAD), conducted by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica. The present study analyzes the elderly women population, totaling 16,186 subjects. Logistic regression models were constructed considering 'difficulty walking 100 meters' as the dependent variable. Results: The prevalence of markers of mild, moderate and severe disability was greater among women, and increased with age. In logistic regression analysis, markers most strongly associated with increased prevalence of mobility disability were age, gender low schooling, and low income. Rural residence was also associated with reduced prevalence. Conclusions: Our results suggest potential risk factors for the development of functional decline in elderly women, given that the associations encountered were consistent with those reported by other studies in the literature.