Application of the O.E.C.D. disability questions in Finland

A draft series of OECD-disability questions were included into the Mini-Finland Health Survey. Preliminary results of a sub-sample reveal that the series is quite feasible and acceptable to a big health survey. However, the questions apply best to an elderly population. Questions measuring the level of health above the normal should also be developed in order to categorize younger and middle-age people. The combination of answers to a single index of disability cannot yet be recommended because of the technical difficulties and of the fear of losing information. The study contains information on impairments, functional disability and the person'medical conditions. The interrelationships between these will be studied later.