Objective: to compare the anticipated support for care, living arrangements and variables related to health as functions of gender and age in older adults in the community.
Method: data was used from the Research network "Frailty in Brazilian Older Adults" (FIBRA network), sample for Campinas (n=671) analyses of data description and comparison were made.
Result: compared to the men, the women are in worse socio-demographic conditions and have poorer perception of their health and dependency and lower expectations of support for care; those who have expectations anticipate receiving help from only one person. Advanced age was related to lower incapacity percentages and the majority of the older adults assess their health as good or very good, irrespective of their age, although the women predominate in the group composed of those who assess their own health as bad or very bad.
Conclusion: this study guides the nurse in identifying older adults in situations of risk of lack of support for care and indicates the need for interventions aiming at giving support to this group.