Mental Illness, Disability and Social Conditions among Old People in Mannheim

Abstract

Both the absolute numbers of old people and their proportion in the general population have increased sharply in all developed industrial countries during the present century. In the Federal Republic of Germany and its predecessor, the German Reich, the proportion of persons aged over 65 years grew during the period 1880–1980 from 5.0% to 15.4%. Here, as in most European countries, one must reckon with a further proportionate rise, especially among the very old, over the next several decades (WHO 1979). These major demographic changes have given rise to a variety of economic, social and public health problems. Because mental illness is one of the most important causes of chronic disability and handicap in the elderly, the care of mentally impaired old people has become an increasingly urgent sociopolitical issue. In order to obtain the comprehensive, reliable morbidity data required for service planning, epidemiological research into the mental disorders of old age is called for.

This research project, which formed part of Special Research Programme 116 (Psychiatric Epidemiology), based at the University of Heidelberg, was supported financially by the German Research Association (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).