Care available to severely disabled older persons living at home in Florence, Italy

Aims : To characterize the epidemiology of disability in, and the level of care available to, older community-dwellers in an Italian urban sample. Methods : In a 2-phase survey, persons aged 65+ years, randomly selected from the patients lists of 98 primary care physicians (PCP), were screened (phas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aging clinical and experimental research 2008-02, Vol.20 (1), p.31-39
Main Authors: Di Bari, Mauro, Pecchioli, Alessandro, Mazzaglia, Giampiero, Marini, Monica, Maciocco, Gavino, Ferrucci, Luigi, Marchionni, Niccolò
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Disability
Disability Evaluation
Disabled Persons
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Geriatrics/Gerontology
Health Care Surveys
Home Care Services - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Italy
Logistic Models
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original Article
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Summary:Aims : To characterize the epidemiology of disability in, and the level of care available to, older community-dwellers in an Italian urban sample. Methods : In a 2-phase survey, persons aged 65+ years, randomly selected from the patients lists of 98 primary care physicians (PCP), were screened (phase I) by their PCP with a structured questionnaire to detect the presence of: 1) need of help in performing Basic and 2) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (BADL, IADL); 3) poor vision or 4) hearing; 5) weight loss; 6) use of homecare services; 7) self-perceived inadequacy of income. Subjects reporting 2+ problems were further evaluated in face-to-face structured interviews (phase II). Results : Of 5445 participants, 597 (11%) screened positive in phase I and 416 were interviewed in phase II. Of these, 4, 29, 19 and 49% were disabled in 1–2 IADL, 3+ IADL, 1–2 BADL, and 3+ BADL. The extent of the support network increased with disability severity (p
ISSN:1594-0667
1720-8319
DOI:10.1007/BF03324745