Carlos Kazuo Taguchi, Costa EP, Alves LV, Santos LK, Silvia ERO, Araujo BCL and Silva AR
Introduction: On senescence the gait gets worse and affects functional capacity of the elderly and, compromises independence, autonomy and increases the rates of falls in this population. The evaluation and the study of the prevalence for future falls allow the development of preventive strategies.
Objective: To analyze the results of the application of the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) Brazilian brief proposal and establish correlation with the original version.
Methods: Study approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the institution under number
0197.0.107000.09. We analyzed 223 files of socially active elderly, female gender, aged ranged 60 to 85 years,
mean 68.54 (± 7,61) years. The volunteers were evaluated by the DGI- Brazil. For the statistical analysis, the
Pearson Correlation Momentum Correlation Test with Spearman Correlation was used, with P<0.5 an R=1,0.
Results: Sixty-three (27.8%) of the volunteers presented an altered DGI scores. The statistical analysis indicated that T1 and T2 did not contribute to decrease the total score in the test. The worst performances occurred in Tasks 3, 5 and 6. There was founded a positive correlation between tasks 1 and 2; 1 and 8; 3 and 4; 3 and 5; 4 and 5; 2 and 4; 2 and 7. Negative correlation occurred between tasks 4 and 8, and 6 was not correlated with another Task.
Conclusion: The DGI-Brazilian brief version presented a strong correlation with the original proposal and may be perfectly applicable in clinical practice as a tool to evidence future risks of falls in the elderly people.
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