SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.15 issue1Analysis of factors involved in preventive medical appointments. Case of Bogota, Colombia 2014Life course perspective and body weight discrimination: an integrated approach to understand the relationship between obesity and food insecurity in women. author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO

Share


Población y Salud en Mesoamérica

On-line version ISSN 1659-0201

Abstract

MONTEVERDE, Malena; PUJOL-JOVER, María; ALEMANY, Ramón  and  LOPEZ CASASNOVAS, Guillem. Elderly People in Dependency Status from Argentina: Classification proposal according to Severity Level based on Secondary Data. PSM [online]. 2017, vol.15, n.1, pp.131-151. ISSN 1659-0201.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/psm.v15i1.28194.

The magnitude of the population 65 years and over in dependency status (ie, people with long-term care need) in Argentina would be more than one million people. Given the great heterogeneity in the type and intensity of the aid required by individuals with long-term care need, it is essential to establish some criteria to classify those in homogeneous groups in terms of severity.

Objective:

This work aims to establish a methodology and objective criteria that allow the identification of homogeneous groups of people in dependency status on the basis of secondary (and limited) information.

Methods:

The method used is based on the Valuation Scale of Dependency Situation from Spain and on the application of the Classification Trees method under the rpart function of the R program. The main sources of information are the Survey on Disability, Personal Autonomy and Dependency Situations from Spain (EDAD, 2008) and the National Survey on Quality of Life of the Elderly from Argentina (ENCaViAM, 2012).

Results:

the model selected shows a high degree of adjustment suggesting that it is possible to estimate the distribution of the elderly population in dependency status according to their severity level in a reasonable way from a reduced group of variables.

Conclusions:

although the prevalence of dependency among the elderly would be higher in Argentina than in Spain, the relative importance of groups with greater severity would be lower in the first country (in Argentina).

Keywords : Frail Elderly; Long-Term Care; Classification.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )