Functional capacity to perform activities of daily living among older persons living in rural areas registered in the Family Health Strategy.

This article describes the socioeconomic profile and functional capacity of older persons living in rural areas in the Municipality of Pelotas-RS, Brazil based on the following sociodemographic characteristics: age, sex, income, schooling and chronic diseases. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted between July and October 2014 using a sample of 820 older persons. We used the Pearson chi square test of homogeneity for nominal variables and the test for trend for ordinal variables. The majority of the sample was made up of women aged,60-69 years, who were white and living with a partner. With regard to functional capacity to perform basic activities of daily living (BADL), 81.8% of individuals were classified as independent, while 54.6% were deemed completely independent for performing instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Variables such as sex (male), age (60-69 years age group) and not having any heart problems were closely associated with the ability to perform BADL , while the ability to perform IADL was associated with age (60-69 years age group), income (1-2 salaries), education (5-8 years), and no osteoporosis. The majority of the people assessed by this study were able to perform both basic and instrumental activities of daily living.