Correlación entre miedo a caer y factores sociodemográficos, biomédicos y de la valoración geriátrica integral de las personas mayores que viven en la comunidad

Introduction: Concern about falling occurs in 30% of older people with no history of previous fall, a percentage that doubles in those who have had a history of falling, with a higher prevalence in older people of older age, generating negative consequences such as loss of autonomy and isolation. Objective: To analyze the correlation between worry about falling and sociodemographic, biomedical factors and the comprehensive geriatric assessment of a group of older people living in the community. Methodology: Descriptive, analytical study carried out on 113 people over 60 years of age who attended an outpatient medical check-up. The following variables were measured: demographic, biomedical, functional, cognitive and affective status. Concern about falling was measured by the shortened version Short Scale International. For these analyzes, descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were used, Pearson and Spearman correlation measures considering a significance ≤ 0.05. This investigation had the approval of the ethics committee. Results: Most of the PM presented a moderate degree of concern about falling. Concern about falling had a negative correlation between educational level, Barthel index, Yesavage geriatric depression scale; and a positive correlation with satisfaction with her life and self-perception of health. Conclusions: Educational level, functionality, encouragement, life satisfaction and self-perception of health were the variables correlated with the concern to fall that have the PM that live in the community. It is important to recognize this phenomenon at the level of primary health care in a timely manner to encourage positive aging.