DESEMPENHO DE LONGEVOS CAIDORES E NÃO CAIDORES NA AVALIAÇÃO DO TIMED UP AND GO UTILIZANDO UM APLICATIVO DE SMARTPHONE.

The performance of very elderly people, fallers and non-fallers, is evaluated by the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test with smartphone app (Mobility Suite®). Elderly people (≥90 years) from Porto Alegre, Brazil, were monitored at home. Each one performed TUG using smartphone with Android operational system placed within an elastic belt and tied on the breast near the sternum. The parameters of the test´s individual phases were provided by the app, namely, a) total duration of TUG, in seconds; b) duration of sitting-standing transition, in seconds; c) duration of standing-sitting, in seconds; d) maximum variation of the trunk angle within the inclination phase forward, in degrees; e) maximum angle speed during the inclination phase forward in degrees/seconds. Analysis of socio-demographic and clinical variables, multi-morbidities and poly-pharmacy and variables related to falls were compared. Further, 26.5% of 98 very elderly people evaluated mentioned falls during the previous six months. Elderly people with falls had more depression symptoms (p<0.001). According to app, fallers had the worst performance in each TUG phase. Smartphone Mobility Suite® app evaluated the performance of very elderly fallers and non-fallers during TUG and its parameters. Depression was the only variable statistically significant and indicated that very elderly people with depression had better chances for falling. This paper presents the first report in the use of MobilitySuite® for very elderly people. In fact, app was highly useful for use in the home and may be further used successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]