Psychological distress and mental health diagnoses in adults by disability and functional difficulty status: Findings from the 2021 national health interview survey

Background

Evidence suggests that disabled people have worse mental health than non-disabled people, but the degree to which disability contributes to mental health is unclear.

Objective

This paper uses 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data to estimate the association between disability and depression and anxiety diagnoses as well as psychological distress among adults.

Methods

We calculated disability population prevalence and mental health diagnoses and associated symptoms among 28,534 NHIS respondents. Logistic regressions estimated the odds of depression or anxiety diagnoses and recent psychological distress, controlling for disability and mental health diagnoses. We measured disability using binary and continuum measures of functional disability with the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning.

Results

Disabled people have significantly greater odds of both depression and anxiety diagnoses compared to non-disabled people. Those with high functional disability have 552 % greater odds of an anxiety diagnosis (95 % CI: 5.61–7.58; p < 0.01) and 697 % greater odds of a depression diagnosis (95 % CI: 6.97–9.12; p < 0.01) compared to those with no functional disability. Similarly, those with any level of functional disability are more likely to have elevated psychological distress in the past 30 days compared to those with no functional disability.

Conclusions

Findings support the idea that mental health is worse for disabled people compared to non-disabled people, with increasing functional disability associated with worse mental health. This suggests that mental health is not being adequately addressed for those with the greatest functional disability. Future work should seek to better understand the systemic causes of disparities.