Role of common mental and physical disorders in partialdisability around the world

BackgroundMental and physical disorders are associated with total disability, buttheir effects on days with partial disability (i.e. the ability toperform some, but not full-role, functioning in daily life) are not wellunderstood.AimsTo estimate individual (i.e. the consequences for an individual with adisorder) and societal effects (i.e. the avoidable partial disability inthe society due to disorders) of mental and physical disorders on dayswith partial disability around the world.MethodRespondents from 26 nationally representative samples (n= 61 259, age 18+) were interviewed regarding mental and physicaldisorders, and day-to-day functioning. The Composite InternationalDiagnostic Interview, version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0) was used to assess mentaldisorders; partial disability (expressed in full day equivalents) wasassessed with the World Health Organization Disability AssessmentSchedule in the CIDI 3.0.ResultsRespondents with disorders reported about 1.58 additional disability daysper month compared with respondents without disorders. At the individuallevel, mental disorders (especially post-traumatic stress disorder,depression and bipolar disorder) yielded a higher number of days withdisability than physical disorders. At the societal level, the populationattributable risk proportion due to physical and mental disorders was 49%and 15% respectively.ConclusionsMental and physical disorders have a considerable impact on partialdisability, at both the individual and at the societal level. Physicaldisorders yielded higher effects on partial disability than mentaldisorders.