Objective: To investigate the relations between psychiatric disability and co-morbid disability caused by injury, severity of the disabilities, as well as the unmet health care need among people living with both disabilities.
Methods: Data collected through both the Second China National Sample Survey on Disabilities in 2006 and the Follow-up Studies in 2009, were utilized. Sampling weights were considered to appropriately estimate situations in the total Chinese population.
Results: Among people with psychiatric disability, 2.7% of them were affected by other injury-caused disabilities as visual, hearing, speech, psychical and intellectual disabilities. Among people with disability that caused by injuries, 1.8% of them were living with psychiatric disability as well. The prevalence rates of psychiatric disability and injury caused disability were as 0.94% and 0.63%, respectively. More than half of the co-morbid people were living with profound disabilities while 46.32% of the people living with both disabilities developed co-morbid disabilities in the same year. Data from the follow-up program showed that 56.25% of the people living with co-morbid disabilities did not receive any psychiatric treatment which were in need.
Conclusion: There seemed a close but bidirectional relationship existed between the mental disorders and injuries that calling for better mental health services provided for people with psychiatric disabilities.