"Acidentes domésticos em idosos com diagnóstico de demência atendidos em um ambulatório de Ribeirão Preto, SP" / Domestic accidents among aged persons with dementia attended at a Ribeirão Preto outpatient clinic
AUTOR(ES)
Celmira Lange
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO
2005
RESUMO
This study aimed to describe domestic accidents involving aged persons with dementia relating those accidents with their living conditions. It is a descriptive and cross sectional study developed in 2001 and 2002. Study participants were 110 elderly who live in the urban area of Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, and were attended at the tertiary outpatient ambulatory of a public hospital. Data were collected at home, by means of previously arranged interviews with these aged persons and their caregivers. The results demonstrated that 65.5% of the elderly were women and 34.5% men. Age ranged from 63 to 91 years, with 76 as the average. With respect to educational level, 45.5% of the elderly had up to 4 years of education; illiterate and those who can barely read and write totalized 35.5%. The results of the participants scores on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) were standardized into low and high performance, in accordance with each persons educational level. 91% of the aged achieved a low and 9% a high performance on the MMSE. 65.5% of the total number of elderly had suffered some kind of domestic accident, distributed as follows: 58.2% falls, 29.1% aspiration and choking, 7.3% burns, 6.4% cuts and wounds, 3.6% intoxication and 0.9% ingestion of a foreign body. As to types of falls, 50% occurred from the subjects own height, with 34.4% of the elderly victims being afraid of falling again. In what concerns the moment of falling, 63.6% of the subjects mentioned intrinsic factors (change in balance, difficulty to walk, muscle weakness), while extrinsic factors (slippery and/or unequal floor, bathroom without support bars) affected 36.4%. The most mentioned injuries after falls were head wounds that needed suturing. Aspiration and choking were caused by food items with different consistencies and coughing was present in 96.6% of the occurrences. Burns occurred in the kitchen, while preparing food, and 89.5% of them affected the upper limbs. 41.2% of these were caused by direct contact with a hot object and/or flame/fire. Accidents involving cutting objects were caused by knives, razor blades, doorknobs, scissors, glass, iron and the affected body parts were hands, arms and faces. Three participants mentioned intoxication through medication ingestion, while intoxication due to the ingestion of a foreign body was caused by swallowing pieces of soap; 90.5% of the accidents involved elderly who achieved a low performance level on the MMSE, while only 9.5% affected those with a high performance. The age range with the highest accident frequency goes from 75 to 79 years. These data show that elderly persons with a low performance on the MMSE, who are between 75 and 79 years old, reveal a greater tendency to suffer accidents. The health team and the family should constantly evaluate both intrinsic and extrinsic factors viewing to establish accident prevention strategies.
ASSUNTO(S)
cognitive state estado cognitivo demência idosos elderly dementia acidentes domésticos domestic accidents
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