Relação entre déficit cognitivo e fragilidade em idosos comunitários do Nordeste brasileiro: resultados do estudo Pro-Eva

Abstract

Introduction: The demographic transition is a reality in the Brazilian population, with an increase in the number of elderly people. This reality is associated with new health demands, considering the multifactorial nature of influential aspects that require investigation. Frailty is one of these aspects, which leads to a reduction in physiological resistance to stressors. Thus, frailty has been associated with other factors that can lead to loss of functionality and disability in the elderly, among them is cognitive deficit. Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between cognitive impairment and frailty in elderly people in Northeast Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional analytical observational study carried out in partnership with six Basic Health Units Parnamirim-RN. People over 60 years of old, of both sexes, were evaluated. There was an associative analysis between sociodemographic and cognition data, anthropometric measurements, physical performance and complementary health data, and frailty, using Student's t test and Pearson's chi-square test. Results: A total of 783 elderly people were evaluated, of which 141 were frail, with a mean age of 73.4 (±8.3) years. The average in the Leganés Cognitive Test (LTC) of the non-frail elderly was 27.73 (±3.95) points, while for the frail elderly it was 23.38 (±5.22), with statistical relevance (p < 0.001) of moderate effect according to with Cohen's d (0.50). Variables such as cognitive deficit, male gender, more than three comorbidities and polypharmacy, proved to be a risk factor for higher scores in Fried's frailty phenotype. Conclusion: There is a significant association between cognitive impairment and frailty in community-dwelling elderly. The use of PCL to assess cognitive function, minimizing educational bias, showed good applicability in the analyzed sample.