Self-assessment of health in the elderly population

The objective of the study was to evaluate the Self-Assessment of Health (SAH) in elderly individuals before and after participating in a physical exercise program. It was a quasi-experimental study conducted with 96 elderly participants ( = 67 ± 6.07 years) enrolled in a 16-week physical exercise program. Before and after the program, participants filled out a medical history form and the Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36). The study found a prevalence of obesity (75.6%), with the predominant health conditions being hypertension (27.08% of the sample) and diabetes (5.21%), while 7.29% reported having both conditions. A notable enhancement in SAH was observed following the completion of the exercise program, both in terms of physical health (∆%= 3.75%, p = 0.0002), mental health (∆%= 17.95%, p = 0.004), and the overall SAH index (∆%= 6.75%, p = 0.001). This suggests the importance of physical exercise programs for the self-assessment of health in elderly individuals.