[Geriatric assessment in the primary care]

A good medical care program for the elderly requires a thorough assessment of the functional capacity and limitations of the consulting patients.

To perform a geriatric assessment to elderly subjects consulting in a public outpatient clinic.

A cross sectional assessment of subjects over 60 years old, beneficiaries of the public health care system and consulting in 4 outpatient clinics of a poor community of Metropolitan Santiago. Evaluation included a complete medical history, the Katz score for activities of daily living (ADL), Lawton score for instrumental activities for daily living (IADL) and Folstein Mini Mental state examination.

During the study period 1,023 subjects, 73% female, aged 74 +/- 7 years, were assessed. Thirteen percent were illiterate, 78% elementary school, 8% had high school and 0.2% university education. Eighty eight percent lived with relatives, 79% did not participate in community groups and 7% smoked. The most common chronic disease detected was high blood pressure in 61%, followed by obesity in 32%, osteoarthritis in 22%, diabetes mellitus in 17%, depression in 11%, cardiac diseases in 8%, hypothyroidism in 3% and epilepsy in 1%. ADL score showed partial dependency in 11% and total dependency in 2%. IADL score showed partial dependency in 41% and total dependency in 4%. Mini Mental score was abnormal in 31% of subjects.

High blood pressure, osteoarthritis, depression and cognitive impairment are the most common health problems in this sample of elderly subjects. ADL score showed a low rate of dependency.