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. 2022 Nov 24;19(23):15636.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192315636.

Functioning Problems Associated with Health Conditions with Greatest Disease Burden in South Africa: A Scoping Review

Maria Y Charumbira  1 , Karina Berner  1 , Quinette A Louw  1
Affiliations

Functioning Problems Associated with Health Conditions with Greatest Disease Burden in South Africa: A Scoping Review

Maria Y Charumbira et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

A notable rise in health-related disability for which evidence-based rehabilitation is beneficial is evident in low-to-middle income countries. This scoping review aimed to systematically identify and map the most common functioning problems associated with health conditions that contribute most to disability in South Africa using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. Peer-reviewed evidence published from January 2006 to December 2021 was systematically searched from five databases. Some 268 studies reporting on functioning problems (impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions) in South African adults (>18 years) related to 10 health conditions were included. A total of 130 different functioning problems were mapped to the ICF. The most prevalent problems (top 20) were related to mobility, pain, and mental health but spanned across several ICF domains and were mostly in patients at primary care. The high prevalence and wide range of functioning problems may be particularly burdensome on an already strained primary health care (PHC) system. This points towards targeted planning of innovative strategies towards strengthening rehabilitation service delivery at primary care to address these complexities where there is an inadequate rehabilitation workforce.

Keywords: ICF; South Africa; functioning; primary care; rehabilitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence (calculated if statistics from at least five articles were available) of top 20 functioning problems from at least 5 articles.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence and number of articles reporting on mobility problems.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of, and number of articles reporting on, pain-related problems.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Prevalence of, and number of articles reporting on, mental health related functioning problems.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mapping of the top 20 presenting functioning problems to the ICF domains.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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