Aging and Urbanization: The Neighborhood Perception and Functional Performance of Elderly Persons in Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area-Brazil.
Currently, half of the world population resides in cities. The percentage of world population that is elderly is expected to double from 11% to 22% by 2050 and will be concentrated in urban areas of developing countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional status of elderly who live in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) was employed as the theoretical model. Probabilistic sampling was used to select 1,611 elderly persons (defined as >/=60 years) for the study. The response variable "functional performance" was developed by counting the number of basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) that subjects found difficult to carry out. A zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression model was fitted to the data. The prevalence of disability was 47.1%. Neighborhood self-perception revealed that 84.0% of the elderly were satisfied with their neighborhood, although only 18.4% trusted people around them. Concerns about walking around the neighborhood were: fear of being robbed (78.0%) and fear of falling due to sidewalk defects (48.2%), which caused a 62% increase in the number of ADL carried out with difficulty. It is well known that there is a continuous tendency for functional results to improve as the frequency of walking increases. Thus, urban infrastructure interventions, such as improving public sidewalks, might influence the frequency of elderlies walking in their neighborhoods. Making walking possible-or even pleasant-could increase their social participation and use of services.
Ferreira
Fabiane Ribeiro
FR
Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde Pública. Departamento de Medicina Preventiva e Social, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil. fabianerf@hotmail.com
César
Cibele Comini
CC
Camargos
Vitor Passos
VP
Lima-Costa
Maria Fernanda
MF
Proietti
Fernando Augusto
FA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012449:Safety; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014507:Urbanization; D016138:Walking