HAND GRIP STRENGTH AS AN INDICATOR OF FUNCTIONALITY IN ELDERLY

Abstract

Introduction: Decreased hand grip strength can affect functional capacity (basic and instrumental activities of daily living), entail functional limitations and affect quality of life. Objective: To check the relationship between the hand grip strength and the functional capacity of the active elderly attending coexistence groups. Methods: This is a cutting from an analytical research, with a cross-sectional design and a quantitative approach, titled “Study on motor parameters and associated factors in elderly belonging to a coexistence group”. The sample was composed of 82 elderly individuals, where everyone responded to an instrument containing cognitive assessment, sociodemographic data, health conditions, functional capacity assessment and hand grip strength. The analysis of data was conducted through the SPSS statistical software, version 20.0. Pearson’s Chi-square test was used to check the associations between the study variables, with a significance level of 5%. Results: It was possible to check the association between the dependent variables in BADL and the limitation in HGS (p=0.004); and between the dependent variables in IADL and the limitation in HGS (p=0.001). Conclusion: Faced with the results found, it was found that the Hand Grip Strength in the surveyed elderly individuals serves as an indicator of functionality, because the ones that showed dependence on the basic and instrumental activities of daily living showed limited Hand Grip Strength.