Musculoskeletal Disability Examination by the Health Committee in Patients with Disabilities

Introduction: This study aimed to retrospectively analyze the extent of disability, age, gender, and diagnoses to determine the areas of social support for patients who applied to the disability health board of our hospital and were found to have a musculoskeletal disability. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the data of 410 patients who were evaluated in the orthopedics and traumatology outpatient clinic of our hospital's adult disability health board between 01.02.2019 and 08.06.2021. The age, gender, diagnosis, affected anatomic region, and disability rate information of patients was recorded. The musculoskeletal disability rate of all patients was determined using the "Regulation on Disability Assessment for Adults." Results: No significant difference was found between both genders in terms of total musculoskeletal system disability rate (p=0.17). The musculoskeletal system disability of the senior group was significantly higher than that of the adult group (p<0.001). The most frequently affected anatomical region is the lower extremity (232 patients, 56.59%). The most common diagnosis that leads to musculoskeletal disability includes neurological disease sequelae (23.62% of 103 patients). Conclusion: Our study revealed that musculoskeletal disabilities especially affect the lower extremities and the elderly patient group. Additionally, lower extremity disabilities affect the mobility of patients and create the need for social support thus should be taken into account in social planning.