Özet:

Introduction: Due to the increase in the elderly population in the world, there is a growing demand for Long-Stay Institutions for the Elderly (LSIEs), which may be associated with constipation due to low intake of fibers, liquids and sedentary lifestyle. Objective: Verify the association of intestinal constipation with gender, age, level of physical activity, nutritional status, dietary and water intake of elderly residents of public and private LSIEs in the hinterland of Rio Grande do Sul. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study with a total of 245 elderlies, resident in nine LSIEs, where data were collected in 2019 and 2020. The elderly answered a structured questionnaire about gender, type of institution and water intake, additionally to the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Rome III criteria. A 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire was applied and the amount of fiber consumed daily was calculated with the DietWin software. The results were considered significant at a maximum significance level of 5% (p<0.05). Results and discussion: Among the participant elderly, 64.5% (n=158) were women, 21.1% (n=27) were malnourished, 34.2% (n= 84) were overweight, 52.2% (n=128) were classified as having intestinal constipation and 92.7% (n=227) were sedentary. The presence of intestinal constipation was significantly associated with sedentary elderly (p=0.049) and females (p=0.046). As evidenced in other studies, constipation influences the quality of life of institutionalized elderly. Conclusion: Most of the elderly living in these institutions were sedentary women, presenting malnutrition or overweight and intestinal constipation. Intestinal constipation was significantly associated with females and sedentary women.

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