[The scale of disability in the Boyacá Department in Colombia].

OBJECTIVE This paper was aimed at ascertaining the magnitude of disability in the Boyacá Department by establishing its distribution and dependent relationships. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional study which involved using the instrument proposed by DANE for recording, localizing and characterizing disability. The instrument's 89 questions were subjected to univariate and bivariate analysis. RESULTS A greater prevalence of disability was found amongst females; it was geographically located in scattered rural areas and amongst those having low educational attainment and poor attendance at school. A deficiency in body, hand, arm and leg movements predominated, as did difficulty in walking, running and jumping. CONCLUSIONS There was a statistically significant dependence (calculated by Pearson's chi-square test) between disability and social, cultural and biological factors.