[Nutritional status and physical performance of elderly in the city of São Paulo].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the nutritional status (NS) and its association with physical performance tests (PPT) of elderly in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.


METHODS
Design--Cross-sectional epidemiological study, in a population on a household basis as part of a multicenter study (the SABE Survey), coordinated by the Pan-American Health Organization. Setting-- From January/2000 to March/2001, the SABE survey comprised 2143 elderly (>or=60 yrs old), of both genders, selected by probabilistic sampling. Of these, 1894 (88.4%) took part in this study. The elderly were separated by gender and age group (60-69, 70-79 and>or=80 yrs old) for the tests and the NS was evaluated according to the Body Mass Index (BMI): underweight (BMI<or=23 kg/m2) and obese (BMI>or=28 kg/m2). The PPTs included timed, repeated "chair stand" (CS), timed "pick up a pen" (PP) and standing balance (SB). The associations (CS and PP) were verified by the Cox Regression analysis and (SB) by the chi square test.


RESULTS
There were statistically significant associations between PP and SB and obese women.


CONCLUSIONS
Results showed association between nutritional status and functional capacity for women and obesity was the nutritional condition associated with the worst performance in the tests. Gender and age group should be considered in the association between nutritional status and physical performance.
Barbosa
Aline Rodrigues
AR
Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo, SP, Brazil. alinerb13@yahoo.com.br
Souza
José Maria Pacheco
JM
Lebrão
Maria Lúcia
ML
de Fátima Nunes Marucci
Maria
M
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D004856:Postural Balance; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis