A Comparison of the Prevalence of Chronic Disease Among People with and Without Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Some studies have reported the presence of health disparities in people with intellectual disability. This study compared the prevalence of chronic health conditions between people with and without intellectual disability (ID). Health-related data for 791 people with ID were collected through a province-wide mail survey in Quebec, Canada. The distribution of chronic health conditions reported was compared to the data on the health status of the general population. People with ID had higher reported rates of heart disease and thyroid disorder than the general population. We also found that people with ID were less likely to report suffering from arthritis, migraines, back or spinal pain, and food allergies. Significant health differences were found when the ID sample was stratified by etiology (i.e., Down syndrome) and severity of intellectual deficits. We discuss these results and the need for future research to understand the differences found in the health status of people with ID.

Screening for glucose intolerance and development of a lifestyle education programme for prevention of type 2 diabetes in a population with intellectual disabilities: the STOP Diabetes research project

“…Primarily, the included studies were cross-sectional observational (n = 31 81,82,98,[100][101][102]104,106,[109][110][111]114,116,119,121,124,[126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135]137,139,142,143,145 ). The remaining studies involved retrospective database or medical records data (n = 22 [83][84][85][86][87][88][89]94,95,99,107,113,115,117,118,120,122,123,136,…”

Out of sight, out of mind? The inclusion and identification of people with intellectual disability in public health research

“…People with intellectual disability receive less health promotion and screening than do members of the general population, despite their arguably greater need across multiple domains. [9][10][11] People with intellectual disability have the right to the highest attainable standard of health. 12 researchers have a critical role to contribute to reductions in health inequities experienced by this group by generating an appropriate evidence base Abstract Aims: Adults with intellectual disability experience substantial health inequities.…”

Intellectual Disabilities Among Prisoners: Prevalence and Mental and Physical Health Comorbidities

“…It has been shown that people with ID in the community often have multiple coexisting physical health needs, such as respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological conditions, weight problems, diabetes, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and sensory losses such as hearing and vision impairments (Morin et al . ; Slevin et al . ; Turk et al .…”