Disability and health status: the importance of longitudinal studies

This paper discusses the evolving societal perspective on and response to disability, social factors affecting the incidence and prevalence of disability, trends relating to morbidity and mortality and their measurement as social indicators and the potential for using measurements of disability among populations as indicators of quality of life or societal well-being. The essential point of the paper is that disability is a dynamic rather than a fixed phenomenon which can best be understood through longitudinal studies of various types.