Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Aim & Objectives: Physical disabilities, caused by accidents, congenital, genetic disorder, and serious illness, affect function and mobility that result in activity limitation, mental health problems and losing self-management, which may lead to chronic disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors related with health behaviours and mental health in chronic disease focused on hypertension, diabetes and obesity for people with physical disabilities (PWPD). Methods: Prospective cohort study. Subjects: Adults (40-69 years) in Seoul with physical disability enrolled in Korean Disabled Registration System (n = 212). Clinical examination: Height, weight and blood test were assessed. Questionnaire: Demographics and health related factors (health behaviours, and mental health) were examined by faceto-face interview. Data analysis: Baseline 1st 2nd year cross-sectional data used and frequency of all subjects and comparison between groups using the Chi-square test and Logistic regression (SPSS 20.0). Related research results: Prevalence of hypertension 41.1%, diabetes 19.6% and obesity 32.0% in non-disabled people (2013 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey among responded non-disability over 19 year). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that 1. PWPD has a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity than non- disabled people. 2. Health behaviour factors and mental health are associated with chronic disease such as diabetes and obesity. Limitation and Further studies: Sample size was small to detect a significant difference due to community-based voluntary participation. Further studies are needed to identify risk factors for occurrence of chronic diseases, and expected to be a foundation for health policy for PWPD.

Biography

Seung Hee Ho is presently working as the Department of Rehabilitation Standard & Policy, Korea National Rehabilitation Research Institute, Korea.