CARACTERÍSTICAS AMBIENTAIS E EPIDEMIOLÓGICAS DE UMA POPULAÇÃO DE IDOSOS HIPERTENSOS ATENDIDA EM UMA UNIDADE DE SAÚDE DA FAMÍLIA EM IMPERATRIZ - MA.

Abstract

Brazil has been getting older in a progressive and accelerated way, and as a consequence of this aging is the outbreak of health problems, mainly cardiovascular diseases. Among chronic illnesses and cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension is considered one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality among elderly and a big health problem. Therefore this study has the objective of describing the epidemiological and environmental characteristics of a hypertensive elderly population assisted in a Health Family Unit in Imperatriz MA. This is a descriptive, analytical and exploratory study conducted with 150 elderlies, through a pre-structured form organized in social-demographics, life habits and health care data. Criterion for inclusion: Be hypertensive, live in an area covered by USF and assigned by TCLE. The following results were obtained: Female predominance (80); mixed race (86); married people female (46), and male (48); level of education was Elementary School; own residence, but without paving street and sewerage. Most of them had been using treated water (112); ages between 60 95 years, average age 71,8 years for women, and 71,5 for men; the IMC average was lower for women (25,7) than for men (26,5); the PA average was lower in elderly women (136x90,33 mmHg) than in elderly men (144,6x97,6 mmHg); 14 elderlies (9,5%) reported the cigarette usage and 8 (5,5%) alcoholic beverage; the consumption of fruits (61,5%), meat (73%) and fish (50%) was bigger among men, and vegetable (62,5%) among women; most of the elderlies do not practice any physical activity, the demand for health services was higher among the elderly women (96%) and the most requested service was UBS. Among morbid familiar history were found the HA, DM and Cancer. Even though it had improvements in some aspects related to elderly health, they still need continuous and permanent assistance, in order to improve their quality of life.