Artigos - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

ABSTRACT

Objective:

to investigate the association between frailty with hospitalization and institutionalization in a follow-up study of elderly residents.

Method:

the follow-up study was performed in 2008 and 2013 with elderly of both genders, aged 65 years and older who were living in the community-dwelling. The sampling procedure performed was probabilistic, with dual-stage clustering. In 2008, 515 elderly people were interviewed and, in 2013, 262. We used the socioeconomic and demographic data, self-reported morbidity, specific data of hospitalization and institutionalization. Frailty was measured by the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), and functional capacity through the Functional Independence Measure.

Results:

we found the mean gross EFS score was higher among resident elderly who were hospitalized and institutionalized and was statistically significant in both investigated years.

Conclusion:

the confirmation of association between frailty and hospitalization and institutionalization reinforces the importance of the subject, and highlights frailty as an important tool for risk estimates for these adverse events.