Disability and quality of life among elderly persons with mental illness

The present study was undertaken to understand the level of disability and quality of life of elderly persons with chronic and persistent mental illnesses and to compare it with those who were elderly but well with no illness. For the purpose 200 elderly persons with mental illness (PMI), attending psychiatric services were included in the study. A comparison group of 103 well elderly persons was drawn from the same study area as control group (CG). They were assessed using WHO-DAS and WHOQOL-BREF. Results revealed that PMI experienced higher disability compared to the CG. Deficits in the domain of moving around, getting along with people, engaging in life activities and participation in society contributed most to the high level of disability in the PMI group. PMI from rural area had higher disability compared to the urban group. As for QOL, elderly PMI had a poor quality of life compared to the CG. Quality of life was found to be negatively associated with level of disability. Higher the level of disability, lower was the quality of life. The authors opine that persons with chronic mental illness continue to experience psychiatric disability in old age and this cannot be attributed to normal aging. Level of disability has a negative impact on their quality of life.