Factors Associated with Wheelchair Use Among Institutionalized Elderly People

A cross-sectional study of 55 institutionalized elderly people, subdivided into groups based on locomotion status. The research, conducted by Elysama Fernandes Alves, analyzed factors such as gender, age, education, comorbidities, cognition, and functionality, and recorded reasons for wheelchair use from participants. It found differences in functionality between groups and that stroke history was associated with wheelchair use.

Use Cases

• Predicting wheelchair use likelihood based on clinical factors like stroke history and functionality scores.
• Identifying key reasons for wheelchair dependency, such as fear of falling or pain, from patient-reported data.
• Analyzing associations between comorbidities, cognition, and mobility aid usage in institutional settings.

Strengths

• Includes data from 55 elderly participants with a clear group division (33 without assistance, 22 wheelchair users).
• Analysis includes specific clinical assessments like the Mini-Mental State Examination and Barthel index.
• Reports statistical findings, including an odds ratio (OR: 0.09) for stroke history and wheelchair use.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Elysama Fernandes Alves

Collection Method

Cross-sectional descriptive study involving analysis of medical records, cognitive/functional assessments, and participant interviews.