Disability in America Toward a National Agenda for Prevention (1991) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 32-40
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From page 32... ...
By these two measures alone, disability ranks as the nation's largest public health problem, affecting not only individuals with disabling conditions and their immediate families, but also society at large. Many medically, socially, and economically important issues call attention to the need for developing an effective national disability prevention program.
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From page 33... ...
Moreover, accumulating experience shows that continuing deterioration of physical or mental health and increasing dependency need not be the outcomes of chronic diseases and functional limitations. Opportunities are increasing to reverse, interrupt, or at least slow the progression to disability, as well as to prevent the development of secondary conditions in people who already have a potentially disabling condition.
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From page 34... ...
This report, prepared by the Institute of Medicine's Committee on a National Agenda for the Prevention of Disability at the request of the CDC and the NCD, responds to the challenge to create a blueprint for a comprehensive national undertaking to reduce substantially the incidence and prevalence of disability in the United States. The report addresses many of the public health and social issues that intersect under the heading of disability.
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From page 35... ...
The term disabling condition refers to any physical or mental health condition that can cause disability. Health conditions differ in the degree to which they precipitate disability, but all physical and mental health conditions that have a measurable association with or likelihood of causing disability are potentially disabling conditions.
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From page 36... ...
The sophistication with which the health care system responds to an initially occurring disease, injury, or condition- in terms of medical care, assistive technology, and an array of related social support services will affect the extent of the individual's functional limitation and the potential for progression to disability and secondary conditions. Whether disability results, and the level of severity if it does, depends on the many factors detailed in this report.
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From page 37... ...
PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISABILITY PREVENTION The public health concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention are applied to disability prevention as follows. Primary prevention seeks to avert the onset of pathologic processes by reducing susceptibility, controlling exposure to disease-causing agents, and eliminating, or at least minimizing, behaviors and environmental factors that increase the risk of disease or injury that can cause disabling conditions.
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From page 38... ...
Early identification of risk factors followed by measures to eliminate or reduce them are the cornerstones of all successful prevention strategies. In this regard, disability prevention meshes well with the public health model of disease prevention, as typified by vaccination programs that immunize at-risk populations against certain infectious agents.
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From page 39... ...
Thus a comprehensive approach to the design and delivery of health and social services throughout the life course is an integral element of disability prevention. SCOPE AND ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT In the 1985 publication Injury in America, the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine identified death and disability caused by injury as one of the most important public health issues in the United States (National Research Council, 1985~.
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From page 40... ...
In the four succeeding chapters, the committee concentrates on four major areas of disability: developmental disabilities (Chapter 4~; injury-related disabilities, specifically those related to spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury (Chapter 5~; disabilities associated with chronic diseases and aging (Chapter 6~; and secondary conditions associated with primary disabling conditions (Chapter 7~. In each of these chapters, the public health significance of each is assessed, current medical and social approaches to prevention are discussed, and research needs are identified.
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