The objective this study was to check the association of functional capacity with age and sex in an elderly population. This study is a cross-sectional household survey conducted with elderly people of both sexes enrolled in the Family Healthcare Strategy of Campina Grande, Brazil, from August 2009 to July 2010. Variables were checked for functional capacity (handgrip strength [HS], flexibility/mobility, and balance) and demographic (sex and age). The association of functional capacity with sex and age group was verified by bivariate analysis using Pearson´s chi-squared test (χ2), with the significance set at p <0.05. Were evaluated 420 elderly (68.1% women), whose ages ranged from 60 to 104 years. In the HS test, a higher proportion of both women (45.6%) and men (47.8%)showed regular scores. In the flexibility/mobility test, 63.0% of women and 57.4% of men had a regular score. Balance tests showed a similar percentage in all scores, in both sexes. In the bivariate analysis between indicative variables of functional ability and sex, only flexibility / mobility showed significant association (p<0.05). In the association between markers of functional capacity and age, balance showed a significant association with age in both sexes (p <0.01), and flexibility only in females (p<0.05). The elderly in this study showed satisfactory performance for the variables of functional capacity. There was a significant association of sex only with flexibility. The age group showed significant influence on balance, in both sexes, and on flexibility in women.
Elderly; Flexibility; Muscular strength; Postural balance