Prevalence and factors associated with low functionality in elderly

This cross-sectional, exploratory study aimed to estimate the prevalence of low functionality and identify associated factors in community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 60 years in southwestern Bahia, Brazil, using a sample of 218 participants. Associations between low functionality and independent variables were examined through crude analyses; variables with p ≤ 0.20 were retained for the adjusted model. Adjusted analyses were conducted using Poisson regression with robust variance to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI). The prevalence of low functionality was 39 % (n = 85). Hospitalization (PR = 0.65; 95 % CI = 0.47 – 0.89; p < 0.001), basic activities of daily living (BADL) (PR = 0.55; 95 % CI = 0.41 – 0.74; p < 0.001) and cognitive status assessed through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (PR = 0.49; 95 % CI = 0.30 – 0.82; p < 0.001) were positively associated with functionality.