The Cognitive and Functional Profile of the elderly that frequent the Community Center for the Elderly in the municipality of Santos, Sao Paulo state

Introduction: The growing population must be accompanied by the promotion of healthy aging and maintain maximum functional capacity. Objective: To understand the cognitive and functional profile of the elderly who take part in the Community Center for the Elderly in Santos, Sao Paulo state. Method: Ninety elderly people were evaluated in this study. The following instruments were used: Social-demographic profile Questionnaire, Socialeconomic Questionnaire, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Subjective Memory Complaint Questionnaire (SMC-Q), Independence in Activities of Daily Living Scale (Katz Scale), and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (Lawton & Brody). Results: The average age of the elderly was 72.5 years old and the predominant gender was female (95.5%). There was a preponderance of participants from 1 to 4 years of education, and Class C was the predominant economic class. In the MMSE scores, 63.33% of the participants were below of the cutoff established for education, and in the SMC-Q, 71.11% of the elderly presented subjective dysfunction of memory. In the performance of Basic Activities of Daily Living (BADL), 84.44% of the participants are independent. As for the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), only 33.33% of the participants are independent. In the statistical analyses between cognitive profile and functional performance, associations were found between MMSE and SMC-Q, MMSE and Lawton & Brody Scale, and SMC-Q and Lawton & Brody Scale. Conclusions: A significant portion of the elderly patrons of the Community Center presents functional decline and cognitive decline