SUBHEADINGS SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC, HEALTH CONDITIONS AND USE OF SERVICES FOR ELDERLY IN PRIMARY

Abstract

The fast aging of the population brought with itself the increase of the not transmissible chronic diseases and, in consequence, the usual search for the health services on the part of the seniors. This way, this work had as objective to evaluate the conditions of health and the use of services by seniors, assisted in the primary attention. Its effectiveness was accomplished in four basic family health units of the municipal district of João Pessoa - PB. The sample joined 278 seniors that accepted to participate in the investigation. The collection of data was accomplished, by a home inquiry, subsidized by a structured instrument. The analysis of the data was accomplished through a quantitative approach. The results indicate that 18,3% of the seniors notice their health as bad, 54% as regular and 27,7% consider their health good. Among the problems of health referred by the seniors, those that stood out were the arterial hypertension (36,2%), the diabetes mellitus (17,4%) the arthritis/rheumatism (12,9%) and the breathing diseases (12,9%). Besides that, in the last weeks, 52,9% presented some symptom or discomfort that interfered, in any way, in the acting of their activities of the daily life. Given the exposed conditions, in the last year, 22,7% of the seniors sought the service for medical consultation more than six times, 15,8% sought between four to six times, 20,9% looked between two to three times, 13,3% just looked for once, and 27,3% didn't seek service in the health service. Descriptors: Senior. Health. Nursing