Assessment of functional capacity in elderly residents of an outlying area in the hinterland of Bahia/Northeast Brazil.

OBJECTIVE To assess the functional capacity and to determine the difference between the means of functional capacity (basic and instrumental activities of daily living) and the age groups of elderly residents in an outlying area in the hinterland of Bahia/Northeast of Brazil. METHOD Analytical study with cross-sectional design and a sample of 150 elderly individuals enrolled in four Health Units in the municipality of Jequié, Bahia, Brazil. The instrument consisted of sociodemographic and health data, the Barthel Index and the Lawton scale. RESULTS In all, 78.00% of the elderly were classified as dependent in the basic activities and 65.33% in the instrumental activities of daily living. Using the Kruskal-Wallis test, we found a statistically significant difference between the means of instrumental activities and the age groups (p=0.011). CONCLUSION An elevated number of elderly were classified as dependent in terms of functional capacity and increased age is related to greater impairment in the execution of instrumental activities of daily living.