Prevalência de doenças crônicas e a utilização dos serviços de saúde por idosos residentes no Município de São Paulo / Prevalence of Chronic desease and health service utilization by the elderly residing in São Paulo-city

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2010

RESUMO

INTRODUCTION: Chronic diseases due to the ageing process and to the unhealthy lifestyle are the greatest factors responsible for the high morbimortality and for the health system overload. OBJECTIVE: This study analyzes the prevalence of Hypertension and Diabetes of a population over 60 years old from São Paulo city, and the use of health services according to demographic and socioeconomic variables, health status, and lifestyle. METHODS: A cross-sectional household health survey analyzed data from 872 elderly resident in São Paulo city using a questionnaire divided into thematic blocks applied in a stratified cluster sample according to the educational level of the head of the family and socioeconomic level. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were carried out and generated three models of Poisson regression model in order to verify the existence of factors associated to hypertension, to diabetes and to the use of health services. RESULTS: The prevalence of reported hypertension among the elderly was 46.9% and of Diabetes, 17.9%. Such values were above the ones found in the adult population. The highest hypertension rates were found among the elderly who reported bad/verybad health status, among those who never drank or those who stopped drinking, among women, and among those who were hospitalized at least twelve months prior to the interview, independently of the age. Concerning diabetes, the same result was found for the self-assessment of health, among widows and widowers, and among the elderly who were hospitalized at least once in the past year. Concerning the use of health services by the elderly, the prevalence of use was approximately 30.6% independently of the morbidity. Among the elderly with hypertension, 70.1% searched for the service because of the hypertension, 59.4% of them did it because of reported morbidity, and 97.1% of them were assisted by the service they searched. Among the diabetic, 69.9% routinely searched for the service because of the diabetes, 53.4% of them did it because of reported morbidity and 96.1% were assisted by the service they searched, with no difference regarding the search and use of services between those with and without hypertension and diabetes. Concerning the measures and control practice of HAS and DM, the most known and practiced control measure among the elderly with hypertension is taking routine medicine for the control of the disease; and among the diabetic, the most known practice is diet and the most practiced measure is taking routine oral medicine, with a difference of socioeconomic level for some measures. CONCLUSION: There is a lack of information, knowledge and use of control measures of these diseases among the elderly. Health policies focusing on professional training and family guiding are necessary in order to encourage not only changes in the lifestyle of the elderly, but also to make them active agents of this change, acting in this process.

ASSUNTO(S)

diabetes idoso serviços de saúde/utilização hipertensão high blood pressure diabetes mellitus health service/utilization aged fatores socioeconômicos doenças crônicas health survey inquéritos de morbidade socioeconomic factor prevalência

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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