| Summary: | Objective: To develop a functional health screening strategy forcommunity-dwelling elderly individuals, including eventual referralto existing health services. We justified the study by considering thelimitations of the Brazilian health system. A second objective was totest whether this strategy would show benefits a year later. Methods:We conducted a prospective cohort study in an urban community inthe city of São Paulo. Subjects included community-dwelling men andwomen aged 60 years or more, capable of walking, recruited throughan announcement in a local newspaper. Patients were invited to aspecific place on a scheduled date to undergo functional screeningtests for elderly patients; we chose tests that are well established inliterature. The tests resulted in a health score showing the number ofchanges found. This database was subsequently used for registrationpurposes, counseling and referral to primary health care facilities inSão Paulo. After one year, each patient was recalled by mail for asecond assessment that used the same methodology. Results: Theinitial assessments included 187 subjects (mean age 68.8 years). Oneyear later 90 patients returned (48% of the total; mean age 69.7 years).This group presented 4.23 alterations in our score against 5.23 in thefirst assessment (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Results show that a tool toidentify functional changes may benefit large groups of elderly subjects.We raised the possibility of whether more functionally disabled peoplewould have a higher absence rate. In the first assessment, patientsthat did not return after one year had a score of 5.75, compared to 5.23for those returning after one year. This difference was not statisticallysignificant (p = 0.33).
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