Desempenho físico em idosos residentes em município da Amazônia brasileira: fatores associados e rastreio da Síndrome da Fragilidade

Abstract

Introduction: Good physical performance is essential for quality-of-life aging. The use of simple instruments such as the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) can be useful in identifying factors associated with poor physical performance and in screening for frailty in the elderly. However, there is a need for validation of the instrument for different populations, since the environment seems to influence the variation of cutoff points and measures of validity of the test. Objective: To identify factors associated with poor physical performance and to verify the validity of SPPB for screening for DES in elderly people in the Amazonian context. Methods: Cross-sectional, population-based, descriptive-analytical study, conducted with 274 elderly (60 years and over), living in Coari/AM. The elderly were assessed through a questionnaire and physical tests. In the step that analyzed the associated factors, a simple association was made between categorical variables and multivariate logistic regression to verify SPPB outcomes. In the analysis of the SPPB for frailty screening, the comparison between cutoff points and the calculation of validity measures was performed. Results: The factors associated with poor performance in the general SPPB were illiteracy (p = 0.044) and shorter time spent living in riverside communities (p = 0.042). In addition, a strong association between poor physical performance and frailty (p <0.001) was identified. The cutoff point 6 presented better measures of validity for frailty in the studied sample (sensitivity: 0.28; specificity: 0.94; AUC: 0.88; ROC curve: 0.61; LR +: 4.44; LR-: 0.77; p = 0.002). Conclusion: SPPB proved to be useful for both physical performance assessment and screening for frailty syndrome in the elderly living in the Amazonian context.