Frailty of the socially vulnerable elderly

Abstract

Objective: To identify the relationship between frailty, sociodemographic characteristics, and social vulnerability of the elderly enrolled in a primary care service. Methods: This was an exploratory, comparative, and cross-sectional study with a quantitative research approach performed with 247 elderly people enrolled in a primary care service, in a city in the interior of São Paulo. A questionnaire was used for socio-demographic characterization of the participants, and the Edmonton Frail Scale was used to evaluate frailty. Vulnerability was classified according to the Paulista Index of Social Vulnerability. Data were analyzed in a descriptive and inferential manner. All ethical recommendations were met. Results: There was a prevalence of frail elderly women, with a mean age of 68.5 (SD=7.3) years, low education, who were retirees. There was a statistically significant difference between frailty and the number of diseases reported (p<0.001). Frailty correlated negatively with social vulnerability (r=-0.043). Conclusion: These results should receive attention from public administrators to understand frailty of the elderly in a context of social vulnerability.