Disability and functionality of older adults

Introduction: the population of all the countries of the Americas is in the process of aging, the Cuban population is no stranger to this social phenomenon that generates new damages to health. Objective: to characterize the disability and functionability of older adults belonging to the medical office 8 of the Policlínico Fermín Valdés Domínguez, Viñales municipality in 2018. Methods: an observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study was carried out, 256 older adults were identified as the universe, selecting a sample of 179 by simple random sampling. Theoretical and empirical methods were used to review the clinical histories and the Katz index and the Lawton scale were applied to determine functionability, descriptive and inferential statistics, the nonparametric Mann Whitney test and the Spearman test, all with a level of certainty of 95%; the data were included in tables and graphs for better understanding. Results: an average of 67 years of age and prevalence of female sex was observed; 54,7 % of the older adults did not present disability; diabetes mellitus was associated with special sensory system disability, 72,6 % were independent when applying Katz index and 69,3 % the Lawton scale, functionability decreases with age. Conclusions: most of the older adults did not present disabilities and maintained their functional capacity, which contributes to achieve a healthy longevity and better quality of life.