Research Output
Early death and causes of death of people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review
  Background: Death of people with intellectual disabilities is considered to be earlier than for the general population.
Methods: Databases were searched for intellectual disability AND death key words. Strict inclusion/exclusion criteria were used. Information was extracted from selected papers, tabulated, and synthesised.
Results: 27/19,111 articles met criteria. Death was earlier by 20 years. It has improved in recent decades; however the same inequality gap with the general population remains. More severe intellectual disabilities, and/or additional co-morbidities rendered it shortest. Standardised Mortality Rates showed a greater inequality for women than men. Respiratory and circulatory diseases were the main causes of death. Cancer was less common, and profile differed from the general population. Some deaths are potentially avoidable. All research is from high income countries, and cause of death is surprisingly little investigated.
Conclusions: Improved anticipatory health care such as health checks and initiatives addressing relevant health risks are recommended.

  • Type:

    Article

  • Date:

    06 October 2017

  • Publication Status:

    Published

  • DOI:

    10.1111/jar.12417

  • ISSN:

    1360-2322

  • Library of Congress:

    RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry

  • Dewey Decimal Classification:

    616.8 Nervous & mental disorders

  • Funders:

    Scottish Government; Scottish Government via the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory

Citation

O'Leary, L., Cooper, S., & Hughes-McCormack, L. (2017). Early death and causes of death of people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12417

Authors

Keywords

Intellectual disability, life expectancy, cause of death, mortality, systematic review, health inequality

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    Early death and causes of death...Figure 1: PRISMA flow diagram

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    This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: O'Leary L, Cooper S-A, Hughes-McCormack L. Early death and causes of death of people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2017;00:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12417, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12417
    This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

  • pdf

    Early death and causes of death of people with intellectual disabilities: a systematic review

    684KB

    This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: O'Leary L, Cooper S-A, Hughes-McCormack L. Early death and causes of death of people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2017;00:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12417, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12417
    This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

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