[Social stress, psychiatric disease and physical impairment in old age: results of a field study].

As part of an epidemiological study of elderly people in Mannheim (FRG), the associations between social situation, psychiatric illness and physical impairment were investigated. For this purpose, social interview data and data from a medical-psychiatric interview, based on a representative sample of residents of 7 city districts (N = 350), were analyzed. Social situation was defined by 3 aspects of the life situation: unfavorable housing conditions, low socioeconomic status and "objective" and "subjective" social isolation. Psychiatric illness and physical impairment were found significantly more often among people with unfavorable housing conditions. Furthermore, the frequency of psychiatric illness and physical impairment increased with declining social class membership. Interestingly, this negative association disappeared for psychiatric illness when physical impairment was partialed out. Finally, "subjective" isolation was associated highly significantly with psychiatric illness and physical impairment; for "objective" isolation however these relationships did not exist. The results suggest that each of the factors except "objective" isolation contains a risk potential for psychiatric illness and physical impairment. Further research is needed to answer questions concerning interactional and cumulative effects of the 3 risk factors.