Quantification of physical illness in psychiatric research in the elderly

This article outlines a simple coding matrix for recording physical illness in a compact form suitable for computerization in research. It allows the recording of physical illness in a number of different ways: the particular organ system(s) involved; whether the illness is acute or chronic; the severity of illness; and the severity of interference with daily living. The application of the scheme is shown in a cohort of depressed elderly patients in hospital. Also included were three self‐assessment scales of physical illness and an OARS Physical Health Rating. It was concluded that the simplest and most parsimonious approach to assessing global physical illness for psychiatric research purposes on the elderly would be to (a) measure the number of body system affected by acute and chronic physical illness, and (b) ask each patient to assess his/her own physical health by one appropriate question.