Physical functioning and mental health in patients with chronic medical conditions

There is evidence to suggest that a decline in physical functioning with ad vancing age is independent of mental health, which appears to remain relati vely stable. There is additional evidence to suggest that those with a chro nic disease also experience a decline in physical function while the mental health remains relatively stable. Using a cross-sectional design, data fro m the US population norms for the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 are examined and compared to SF-36 data collected for four patient groups. Patient grou ps include kidney dialysis patients, multiple sclerosis patients, kidney tr ansplant patients and patients with severe osteoarthritis of the hip prior to total hip replacement. Overall scores and scores within 10-year age grou pings are examined in order to compare the physical functioning and mental health scores of the general population with those of the four patient grou ps. Results support the hypothesis that physical functioning declines with advancing age and with the development of chronic disease, but mental healt h remains remarkably stable regardless of chronic disease and/or advancing age. This observation suggests a process of psychological adjustment or ada ptation to the physical difficulties encountered with advanced age or disab ility, and implies that this adjustment process may in fact be quite strong .