Balance and gait of elderly people at retirement homes in Catanduva city, SP, Brazil

ABSTRACT This paper aims to evaluate balance and gait in elderly people who live at retirement homes and to characterize alterations in balance and walk according to sex, age, vision and hearing. The research, of descriptive type and transversal character, was conducted at Catanduva city’s retirement homes, with elderly people of both sexes. Firstly, the elderly answered a questionnaire with information about identification and health conditions. Balance and gait were evaluated through Tinetti Balance and Gait Scales. One hundred and five elders were evaluated, being 62 (59%) women and 43 (41%) men, aged between 60 to 97 years, being 79,2 ± 9,7 years to females and 73,2 ± 9,3 years to males. There was association between balance and gait’s difficulty and female sex (p=0,003); age (p=0,004) and vision’s difficulty (p=0,008). There was no difference between balance and gait and hearing disability. According to the results, the conclusion is that in Catanduva city’s retirement homes balance and gait disability are associated with age, female sex and vision disability.