Assessment instruments of functioning in Brazilian elderly and the ICF: a systematic review

Abstract Introduction: Under the new conceptual model described by the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF) for a biopsychosocial health analysis, it is necessary to consider that it is not arising only from biological conditions, but also environmental, social, cultural and politics involved in this process. Objective: To review the publications that had the Brazilians elderly functioning as outcome by analyzing the instruments used and to verify its consistency with the ICF model. Methods: A systematic review of the Brazilian literature on elderly was performed in SciELO, PubMed, Scopus, and Lilacs databases. Publications starting in 2001, in English, Portuguese or Spanish, studies with experimental design or intervention, having the Brazilian elderly as the only subject. For evaluating the quality of the papers, the Downs and Black checklist were used. Results: From 3070 items first found in the research, 29 articles remained for this study. Of these, 25 instruments were used to measure the eldery functioning. The frequency of the ICF domains were: health condition (0.28%), body structure and function (1.71%), activity (82.34%), participation (3.42%), environmental factors (12.25%) and personal factors (0%). Conclusion: Despite the ICF be much discussed today, it was possible to detect remaining gaps in the studies about the subject. The results of this study indicate that the conceptual model has not being fully and equitably used when it comes to the eldery functioning.