Physical activity, quality of life and functional performance in the activities of daily life of elderly

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the level of physical activity, quality of life and functional performance in the daily activities of the elderly who participate in a physiotherapy group. The method used for the research was a cross-sectional case series study in 32 elderly people, where the participants were submitted to a data collection form and then to the application of questionnaires, through the following instruments: IPAQ for the evaluation of the level of physical activity of the elderly, Katz and Lawton-Brody Index for the identification of independence in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and Brazilian Version of the Quality of Life Questionnaire – SF-36 . The results of the research revealed that the mean age of the individuals studied was 72.81 ± 8.66 years, with the majority of women. Regarding the level of physical activity, 20 participants were classified as active, 12 as moderately active and none of the participants were categorized as sedentary. Regarding the degree of dependence on basic daily life activities, 81.3% of the elderly were categorized as independent and the others as partially dependent. As for instrumental activities of daily living, all were classified as independent. The worst performance in the Limitations by Physical Aspects and the best scores in the Mental Health domain were observed in the evaluation of the quality of life. Significant differences between the analyzed variables could not be established.