Physical performance in elder people of the policlinic ¨Heroes del Moncada¨

Abstract

Introduction: to evaluate physical performance of elder people is an important working tool for determining sarcopenia, frailty and that way assessing the functional capacity at this age.
Objective: to evaluate physical performance in elder people from policlinic ¨Heroes del Moncada¨, municipality Plaza de la Revolución, La Habana.

Material and  Method: a cross-sectional, descriptive research was carried out in 422 elder people from the  Policlinic ¨Heroes del Moncada¨ in the period from May 2011 to May 2014. Physical performance was determined applying the test staying 5 times up from a chair and measuring the speed of a 4.5- meters-long walk.
Results: 90.3 % of the people completed the test staying 5 times up from a chair in 13.8 sec. The average speed of the walk was 0.74 m/sec.
Conclusions: most of elder people were female, aged 70-79 years, independent according to the Basic and Instrumented Activities of the Daily Life and showing good physical performance.