Introduction:

Functional dependence is one of the determinants of health status in older adults. Increasing dependence lead to significant changes in lifestyles, social and family interaction. This study analyzes the relationship of socio-demographic and health conditions with functional dependency in a sample of elderly from Pasto city-Colombia.

Materials and methods:

A cross-sectional study in a sample of 391 older adults were done. Functional status was assessed with instrumental activities of daily living (Lawton and Brody scale). Demographic characteristics, medical history, overall cognitive level, and depressive symptoms were evaluated. As a measure of association, the odds ratio (OR) crude and adjusted with confidence intervals were calculated using binary logistic regression.

Results:

26,3% of older adults were found with functional dependence. Male gender (RD = 2.72, 95% CI 1.51 to 4.93), economic dependence (OR = 1, 41, 95% CI 1.26 to 4.40), history of cerebrovascular disease (or = 3.41, 95% CI 1.21 to 9.61), arthritis (OR = 2.24; 95% CI 1,27- 3,98), depressive symptoms (OR = 3.07, 95% CI 1.54 to 6.123), and cognitive impairment (OR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.64) were related with functional dependence.

Conclussion:

With the aging process, functional capacity in elderly is a multifactorial problem. The results support the evidence that elderly gradually lose their level of independence, which can impact their quality of life and therefore in the context in which it interacts.

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