Description of Common Ailments and Nonprescription Medications Found in Medication Reviews for People With Intellectual Disability.
Adults with ID juggle eight OTC meds on top of prescriptions—count them at every visit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
La Valle et al. (2025) looked at every-day health problems and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs used by adults with intellectual disability (ID).
They counted how many ailments each person had and how many OTC meds were on the list.
One review held 26 different OTC products, showing the load can skyrocket.
What they found
On average, each adult carried 6.6 ailments and 8 OTC medicines at the same time.
That level of OTC polypharmacy is easy to miss because these drugs do not need a doctor’s script.
How this fits with other research
Lifshitz et al. (2014) warned that ID polypharmacy studies must define and count all drugs the same way; Chelsea’s team followed that advice and gave hard numbers.
Petrovic et al. (2016) found high rates of metabolic syndrome tied to prescribed antipsychotics; Chelsea shows OTC products pile on top of those scripts, so total pill burden is even higher.
Smith et al. (2020) showed most adults with ID also have communication problems; when clients cannot report side-effects, hidden OTC overload becomes riskier.
Why it matters
You can spot OTC overload fast. Add an OTC count to every medication review. Ask the client or caregiver to bring in all pill bottles, including vitamins and creams. One extra minute can reveal double-dosing or drug interactions you would otherwise miss.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Bring a brown-bag checklist: have the client place every OTC bottle inside and write the count in the chart.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disability (ID) are more susceptible to experiencing minor health issues. This research describes the common ailments and nonprescription medications found in people with ID who have had a medication review performed by a credentialed pharmacist in Australia. AIMS: The aims of this research were to (i) describe the common ailments found within people with ID and (ii) identify and quantify the nonprescription medications documented in medication reviews for people with ID. METHOD: This research conducted a retrospective analysis of medication review reports and referrals from credentialed pharmacists who have performed a medication review for a person with ID between January 2020 and January 2024. RESULTS: A total of 80 responses and reports were obtained. The average age of the person with ID was 52 years. On average, each medication review listed 6.6 common ailments and 8.0 nonprescription medications. The highest number of nonprescription medications listed for a single individual was 26. CONCLUSION: This research is the first to exclusively examine common ailments and nonprescription medications found in people with ID through medication reviews. Further research is needed to confirm study findings revealing a potentially high occurrence of common ailments and nonprescription medication use in this population compared to other similar populations and notable polypharmacy for nonprescription medications.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2025 · doi:10.1111/ijcp.13489