[Social support and the frailty syndrome among elderly residents in the community]

Frailty among the elderly is a result of the complex interplay between social and clinical factors involved in its genesis. However, it is still unclear whether the fraailty syndrome can be aggravated due to lack of social support. The scope of this study was to analyze the association between social support and the frailty syndrome among elderly residents in the community. It is an analytical observational cross-sectional study, with a sample of 300 elderly people. Socio-demographic, economic and physical health, frailty and social support data were collected. For statistical analysis, the Pearson chi-square, the Student t and the binary logistic regression were performed, adopting a significance level of 5%. No associations were observed between frailty and the social support variables, except for the housekeeping aspect (p = 0.04). In logistic regression frailty with age (OR = 1.19), physical activity (OR = 2.56) and self-perceived health (OR = 3.33) remained associated. It is considered that more studies need to be conducted to characterize social vulnerability and health services also need to recognize the importance of social support as an integral part of care for the elderly.