Background: Geriatric assessment quantifies medical, functional, mental and social capabilities and alterations of elders and is the first step to initiate specific intervention programs.
Aim: To report the initial geriatric assessment of a program aimed to help poor elders living in Metropolitan Santiago.
Subjects and methods: Two thousand one hundred sixteen free living subjects aged 65 to 99 years old (711 males) were subjected to an assessment using a simple geriatric score validated abroad and used previously in Chile. The resulting score ranges from 0 (better) to 5 (worst).
Results: Eighty eight percent of elders did not have problems in the functional evaluation. Subjects over 75 years old needed occasional support for the daily activities with higher frequency than younger subjects (12 and 5.4% respectively, p < 0.001) and had a higher frequency of major functional limitations (7.8 and 3.2% respectively, p < 0.001). Mental assessment was considered normal in 89.4% of subjects. Those over 75 years old had a higher frequency of memory disturbances (11.4 and 6.5% respectively) and cognitive alterations (4.6 and 1.8% respectively). Indefinite social support could be received by 84% of subjects, but 7.4% did not have access to this resource.
Conclusions: Geriatric assessment of poor elders gives useful information to identify those subjects that require community help.