Abstract

CASAS, Paola et al. Clinical profile of elder patients attending an outpatient setting of a general hospital. Rev Med Hered [online]. 2012, vol.23, n.4, pp.229-234. ISSN 1018-130X.

Objective: To describe the clinical profile of elder patients attending an outpatient setting of a general hospital. Methods: Descriptive and cross-sectional study performed using surveys applied to patients attending Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia´s elder outpatient clinic between August 2011 and January 2012. Results: 290 patients were evaluated; 69.3% were females; 65.5% had 60-79 years old. Blood hypertension was the most frequent diagnosis in 55.5%. Use of at least one drug was found in 83.1% and 45% used more than three drugs; 83.5% were autonomous; 18.1% had cognitive deterioration; 7.7% had depression; 79.3% had social risk; 23.8% had dysfunctional families; 31.4% were at risk of malnutrition; 23.4% had obesity and 4.9% had risk of falls. Elderly falls was the most frequent geriatric syndrome (23.8%) and edentulism was the most frequent geriatric problem (77.6%); 17.4% were fragile based on walking speed; an association was found between fragility, advanced age, female gender and social risk. Conclusion: The majority of elder patients attending the outpatient setting were functionally autonomous females, with no cognitive deterioration, adequate family functioning, pre-fragile and with chronic non-transmissible diseases.

Keywords : Aged; signs and symptoms; Ambulatory care.

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