[Health and social services used by the rural elderly]

To describe the use of health and social services, and to analyze the influence of functional capacity for Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) and other factors in their use.

Cross-sectional study in a non-institutionalized population older than 64 years old in a basic rural health area of Zaragoza.

use of different health and social services. Main independent variable: functional capacity for IADL according to the Lawton-Brody. Confounding variables: sociodemographic, physical exercise, comorbidity, self-perceived health, walking aids, social resources and economic resources (OARS-MAFQ). The relationship between the use of services and functional capacity for IADL was assessed using crude OR (ORC) and adjusted (adjusted OR) with CI95% by means of multivariate logistic regression models.

The use of social and health services increased with age and worse functional capacity for IADL. The increased use of health services was related with bad stage of health, limited social and economic resources, physical inactivity and female. The increased use of home help services was related with limited social resources, low education level and male. Regular physical activity and using walking aids were associated with greater participation in recreational activities.

The probability of using social and health services increased in older people with impaired functional capacity for IADL. The specific use of them changed according to differences in health, demographic and contextual features.