Psychiatric Disorder and Limitations in Physical Functioning in a Sample of the Los Angeles General Population

The authors examined relationships between psychiatric disorder and perceived general health and physical functioning from data obtained from interviews with 2,554 non-Hispanic whites and Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles. Persons with recent psychiatric disorders perceived their general health as poorer and had more limitations in physical functioning than persons without such disorders, even when the analyses controlled for chronic medical conditions and demographic factors. Affective and anxiety disorders were independently associated with both acute and chronic limitations in physical functioning. The associations of recent psychiatric disorder and of chronic medical condition with acute activity restrictions were similar in magnitude.