Institutionalization and physical activity in the elderly and their relationships with fear of falling and quality of life

Aims: To assess the association of institutionalization and physical activity with the fear of falling and the quality of life in elderly. Methods: We selected for this study 61 seniors, divided into three groups: 21 institutionalized, 20 non-institutionalized active, and 20 non-institutionalized not active. The FES-I questionnaire to assess fear of falling and the SF-36 questionnaire to assess quality of life were used as instruments. Participants were recruited in long term care facilities and among community elders, residents in the city of Florianópolis, Brazil. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (ANOVA One Way, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney) with significance level p≤0.05. Results: No significant difference was found in the FES-I questionnaire among the institutionalized and non-institutionalized active elderly, with the highest score in the institutionalized (30±10.5; p=0.02), meaning greater concern about falls. Quality of life was significant different between the groups in the area functional capacity, with higher scores in non-institutionalized active (78±19.6), followed by non-institutionalized not active (51±27.3) and institutionalized (35.9±25.9) (p=0.001). In the pain domain, the highest score (less pain) was found in the institutionalized (83.2 ± 21.6), followed by non-institutionalized active (61.4±25.9) and non-institutionalized not active (54.4±33, 3) (p=0.005). Conclusions: In the elderly included in this study, institutionalization was associated with greater concern about falls, lower functional capacity and less pain complaints. Physical activity was associated with better performance in the functional domain of the quality of life questionnaire, and less concern about falls