Alécia Maria da Silva

Racial inequalities in the socioeconomic, demographic and health conditions of elderly from Maranhão State, Legal Amazon, Brazil: a population-based study

Aging with quality of life does not occur equally among the racial groups of Brazilian elderly, and few studies have analyzed this issue in the states of the Brazilian Legal Amazon. The objective of this study was to investigate racial inequalities in the socioeconomic, demographic and health conditions of elderly residents of Maranhao state, Brazil. The present work is a cross-sectional study of 450 elders aged 60 years or older included in the 2008 National Household Sample Survey. The prevalence of socioeconomic, demographic, health and habit indicators and of risk factors were estimated in white, brown and black racial categories that were self-reported by the survey participants. The chi-square test was used for comparisons (a=5%). The majority of the elderly respondents identified themselves as brown (66.4%) or white (23.3%). There were significant socioeconomic, demographic, habit and lifestyle differences among the racial groups. Most of the black and brown elderly lived alone, reported lower educational levels and were in the lowest quintile for income. These respondents were also highly dependent on the Unified Health System (Sistema Unico de Saude - SUS), exhibited low rates of screening mammograms and lower physical activity levels and had a greater proportion of smokers. However, there was no difference in the prevalence of health indicators or in the proportion of elderly by gender, age, social role in the family or the urban-rural location of the household. These results indicate the presence of racial inequalities in the socioeconomic and demographic status and in the practice of healthy habits and lifestyles among elderly from Maranhao, but suggest equity in health status. The results also suggest the complexity and challenges of interlinking race with socioeconomic aspects, and the findings reinforce the need for the implementation of public policies for these population groups.

Avaliação das atividades instrumentais da vida diária em idosos da periferia de São Luis, Maranhão

Pesquisa qualitativa, exploratoria, descritiva com o objetivo de conhecer e descrever como o tratamento medicamentoso a hipertensao repercute na vida sexual do homem, utilizando-se como metodo de coleta de dados uma entrevista semi-estruturada com 14 hipertensos do sexo masculino cadastrados no HIPERDIA e acompanhados nas diversas Unidades Basicas de Saude na cidade(UBS) de Caxias-MA. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre os dias 30 de maio e 05 de junho de 2012. A pesquisa em questao demonstrou que os anti-hipertensivos empregados na terapeutica da hipertensao arterial trazem dificuldades e constrangimentos para a vida dos hipertensos, uma vez que os mesmo causam efeitos colaterais que prejudicam a vida sexual dos doentes.