Associação do aspecto cognitivo e suporte social com o nível de atividade física: um estudo de base populacional com longevos da zona rural de Manaus, AM

Abstract

Currently, in Brazil, there is a significant growth in the elderly population, which has become more evident in recent years. In 2022, the population of elderly people aged 60 or over reached a total of 32,113,490 people living in Brazil, of which 17,887,737 (55.7%) were women and 14,225,753 (44.3%) were men . In this sense, studies focused on the health of this population segment have increased, since the aging process causes a series of physical and functional deficits. One of the most affected functions is cognition, which can reduce the capacity for logical reasoning, memory, critical judgment, affectivity, personality and attitude. Furthermore, social support at this age is extremely important for the well-being and quality of life of this population. From this perspective, the practice of regular physical activity is highly recommended to promote active aging and provide better health conditions at older ages. Scientific evidence suggests that the broader the activities that work on different components, the more benefits are apparent in preventing or inhibiting deficits in cognition and isolation that may arise with the aging process. This study is characterized as observational, descriptive and population-based. This type of study is important because it generates information about the health conditions of the elderly and their determinants, as well as their demands and patterns of use of health services, and are essential for guiding health policies aimed at this population. Therefore, the objective of this study was to verify the association of the cognitive aspect and social support with the level of physical activity in long-lived elderly people living in the rural area of the city of Manaus/AM. To achieve the proposed objective, the multidimensional elderly protocol was applied, consisting of 13 blocks that allow collecting information about the functional capacity of elderly people at different levels. To assess cognitive function, MMSE and the Verbal Fluency Test, Minimum Relationship Map and Family APGAR were used to assess social support and the pedometer was used to assess physical activity level (PAL). To analyze the collected data, the variables were categorized according to the data explored in each block and descriptive statistics were performed using frequency, percentage, mean, median and standard deviation; and to verify the associations of cognitive function, social support and activity level, the simple and multiple linear regression test was used. From the results, the data was homogeneous, allowing us to conclude that the majority of elderly people were male, with low education and married or widowed. The assessment of the cognitive status of the oldest old demonstrated that the majority did not present possible impairment in at least one of the tests applied, demonstrating low cognitive decline. From the inferential analyses, no association between cognitive status and level of physical activity was identified. Regarding social support, there was a positive association between the family support network and the level of physical activity, confirming that the family is a fundamental foundation for promoting physical activity among the elderly in the rural area of Manaus.