Mortality in Brazilian community-dwelling older adults: 7 years of follow up in primary care.
AIM
To describe the main causes and factors associated with mortality in community-dwelling older adults in a county where the public health system covers most of the population.


METHODS
We analyzed data from an existing cross-sectional study of 2209 participants (age ≥60 years) in a city in southeast Brazil where 92% of the population is served by a public system of primary care. Over a period of 7 years, 386 participants died and were included in the sample. We assessed the impacts that dependence on others for basic activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, Geriatric Depression Scale scores, and health history have on mortality.


RESULTS
The participants' mean age was 75.2 years (SD 8.2); 51.7% of the participants were women, and 51.3% had depressive symptoms. The main causes of death were circulatory diseases (40.3%), cancer (19.8%) and respiratory diseases (13.5%). Multivariate analysis showed that, taken together, the use of more than four medications per day, smoking, lower income, older age and dependence on others for a greater number of instrumental activities of daily living predicted death in this population.


CONCLUSIONS
Understanding the factors that are associated with mortality can facilitate understanding, and aid in developing policies regarding primary care for the elderly. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 804-809.
['Ferreira|Talita Cristina Barbosa Rezende|TC|', 'Coimbra|Arlete Maria Valente|AM|', 'Falsarella|Glaucia Regina|GR|', 'Costallat|Lilian Tereza Lavras|LT|', 'Coimbra|Ibsen Bellini|IB|']
D000203:Activities of Daily Living D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D001938:Brazil D002423:Cause of Death D002908:Chronic Disease D015331:Cohort Studies D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D003863:Depression D005260:Female D006304:Health Status D006801:Humans D016015:Logistic Models D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D011320:Primary Health Care D012111:Residence Characteristics D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
mortality elderly risk factors