Risco de adoecimento mental em idosos: revisão integrativa.

Abstract

Aging is a process with social, biological and psychological implications, which influence the quality of life in old age. It stands out, therefore, that many aspects may influence the emergence of mental disorders in the third age. In this perspective, the study aims to identify factors associated with risk of mental illness in the elderly. It is an integrative literature review, performed in six distinct stages: the review problem establishment; literature research; categorization of studies; critical analysis of included studies; results interpretation; and presentation of the integrative review. The articles identification was made through an online search on LILACS, SCIELO and MEDLINE databases, in the last 10 years and without language restriction, being selected a sample of 16 articles. The publications analysis was based on three thematic categories: risk factors for mental illness in the elderly; prevalence of mental disorders in the elderly; and Primary Care actions in the care of elderly mental health. Thus, the achieved results have highlighted the following risk factors: female gender, advanced age, marital status, low education, low income and unemployment, involvement by chronic diseases and functional disability, obesity, malnutrition, physical inactivity and falls. A high prevalence of mental disorders was evidenced among the elderly, which ranged from 4,7% to 40,5%. In addition, it was observed a deficiency in primary care of the elderly mental health. Therefore, the results reinforce the importance and the need for implementation and effectiveness of the mental health services in all programs of primary care, in articulation with effective measures directed to promote mental health and comprehensive assistance for the elderly, contributing, thus, to a better quality of life.