GERIATRIC ASSESSMENT OF 2116 FREE-LIVING ELDERS

Background: Geriatric assessment quantifies medical, functional, inter vention programs. Aim: To report the initial geriatric assessment of a program aimed to help poor elders living in Metropolitan Santiago. Su bjects and methods: Two thousand one hundred sixteen free living subje cts aged 65 to 99 years old (711 males) were subjected to an assessmen t using a simple geriatric score validated abroad and used previously in Chile. The resulting score ranges from 0 (better) to 5 (worst). Res ults: Eighty eight percent of elders did not have problems in the func tional evaluation. Subjects over 75 years old needed occasional suppor t for the daily activities with higher frequency than younger subjects (12 and 5.4% respectively, p< 0.001) and had a higher frequency of ma jor functional limitations (7.8 and 3.2% respectively, p< 0.001). Ment al assessment was considered normal in 89.4% of subjects. Those over 7 5 years old had a higher frequency of memory disturbances (11.4 and 6. 5% respectively) and cognitive alterations (4.6 and 1.8% respectively) . Indefinite social support could be received by 84% of subjects, but 7.4% did not have access to this resource. Conclusions: Geriatric asse ssment of poor elders gives useful information to identify those subje cts that require community help.