Introduction

Projections indicate that Brazil will be the sixth country in the world with the highest number of elderly. The objective of the study was to characterize the socio-demographic profile, living, and health conditions of elderly primary care users of a municipality in the Amazon region of Brazil. It is timely because ageing of the population is growing rapidly, especially in developing countries like Brazil.

Materials and Methods

Cross-sectional study with a sample of 441 individuals with ages below 60 years from a population of basic care users in the municipality of Benevides, in the Brazilian Amazon. Data were obtained through the Elder notebook, a clinical protocol from the Ministry of Health. The chi-squared test with 5% significance level was used to explore the associations between the variables of health and living conditions, and the sociodemographic variables.

Results

The study population presented a predominantly young elderly profile (46.0%), who do not engage in physical activity (p <0.02), with chronic conditions and use of drugs to induce sleep (p <0.05).

Discussion and Conclusions

The unfavorable health and living profile found in the elderly requires the adoption of enhanced health measures and comprehensive care budgets as a challenge to effectively meet their needs, mainly by nursing, in basic health care in the neediest areas of the Amazon region.

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