Investigating the determinants of self-rated mental health among physically disabled adults: a cross-sectional study using survey data from Bangladesh

Sammanfattning: Abstract Background: Disability affects 15% of the world's population, and around 80% of people with disabilities are from low-middle-income countries (LMIC). According to the BangladeshFinal Report on Household Income and Expenditure Survey in 2016, Bangladesh hasapproximately 11.4 million people living with disabilities. Studies showed that physicaldisabilities had been associated with poor mental health outcomes, particularly in low socioeconomic conditions. Aim: This study aims to investigate the association between poor self-rated mental health and physical disabilities (hearing, visual, or mobility) in adults in Bangladesh with different sociodemographic, individual, and contextual characteristics. Methods: We used cross-sectional individual and ecological data from the Social Capital and Disability in Bangladesh (SCDB) questionnaire conducted in 2016 in Bangladesh. Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Ordered probit and heteroskedastic ordered probit models were fitted to estimate the probability of the reported self-rated mental health attributed to all the potential confounders. Results: Individuals who did not have access to assistive devices had higher percentages of reporting poor mental health. Those who did not receive education and with poor household socioeconomic status had around two times higher chances of reporting poor mental health than those who received higher secondary education. Moreover, bad self-rated physical health and visual or mobility disability increased the probability of reporting very bad mental health by 5%. Unemployment increased the likelihood of reporting bad mental health by 2%. Conclusions: Associations between physical disability (hearing, visual, or mobility) and poor mental health were found in this study. As no research on the mental health of people with these physical disabilities has been conducted in Bangladesh, this study fills a significant knowledge gap. It provides important implications for future research and prevention actions.Further research is required to identify the causal inference of the associations found in this study.