Achieving food security in vulnerable populations

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> As reported by the literature, chronic diseases are related to the survival time of older populations. <h3>Objective</h3> To study the association of autonomy, depression cognition loss and alcoholism with older persons9 survival in a medium-sized city in São Paulo state (BRAZIL). <h3>Methodology</h3> Systematic population sampling for unknown prevalence was performed. Three hundred and sixty-five people aged 60 years and older were interviewed by means of home enquiries in 2006–2007. The Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Scale (Katz, Downs <i>et al</i>, 1970), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale (Lawton and Brody, 1969), Abridged Geriatric Depression Scale (Yesavage JA, Brink TL <i>et al</i>, 1982), Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) (Folstein, Folstein <i>et al</i>, 1975; Bertolucci, Brucki <i>et al</i>, 1994) and the CAGE Alcohol Use Assessment (Ewing, 1984) were applied. As to survival, the log-rank test was performed, and the proportionality of the curves for each one of the evaluations was observed. Next, they were conjointly studied by the Cox model and adjusted by gender and age. <h3>Results</h3> 3 years after the enquiry, the ADL and IADL evaluations generated proportional survival curves. Only ADLs showed to be a predictive factor for mortality (p=0.02), HR=3.2 (1.3 to 7.7), adjusted for the other scales, gender and age (Cox). <h3>Discussion and Conclusions</h3> Of the elders9 morbidity, ADL alterations are the causes for most concern as they are already noted to be predictive for mortality after 3 years of the cohort9s survival.