The importance of mental disabilities for the use of services by the elderly

Interviews were performed on 1288 people aged 70 and over in two large practices in South Wales. Information was obtained by standardised questionnaire on three measures: anxiety, depression and physical disability. These were related to the use of services by the elderly people. It was found that the use of services was related to both physical and mental disability independently. This held for most of the individual services. The degree of psychological disturbance is therefore important for estimating the future demand for services by elderly people.