Patterns of multimorbidity in an older population of persons with an intellectual disability: results from the intellectual disability supplement to the Irish longitudinal study on aging (IDS-TILDA).
Most adults with ID already juggle several chronic conditions in mid-life—screen early for mental-health and neurological issues.
01Research in Context
What this study did
McCarron et al. (2013) asked adults with intellectual disability in Ireland about their health.
Everyone was 40 or older. The team counted how many long-term illnesses each person had.
What they found
Seven in ten adults already had two or more chronic conditions.
Mental-health and brain-based illnesses formed the biggest cluster.
How this fits with other research
Hermans et al. (2014) saw the same pattern in people over 50 and found almost eight in ten were multimorbid.
O'Dwyer et al. (2018) used the same Irish group and showed that half also had problem behavior, linking mental-health diagnoses to daily challenges.
Bao et al. (2017) narrowed the lens to severe-profound ID and found a different cluster: vision loss, epilepsy, constipation, and scoliosis.
Heald et al. (2020) and Higgins et al. (2021) tracked the next step: more illness leads to more medicines and risky drug mixes.
Why it matters
Expect most of your adult clients with ID to bring several diagnoses by their 40s. Start early screens for mood, anxiety, epilepsy, and vision trouble. Share lists with prescribers to avoid drug interactions. Plan longer appointments and team huddles to keep the whole person in view.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Multimorbidity (2 or more chronic conditions) is being widely studied in older populations and this study explores both the relevance of emerging conceptualizations and the extent to which multimorbidity is a feature of aging in persons with an intellectual disability. METHODS: Data was generated from wave one of the intellectual disability supplement to the Irish longitudinal study on aging (IDS-TILDA) which included 753 persons with an ID aged 40 years and over. Information on the presence of 12 chronic conditions was collected using a standardized protocol administered in face to face interviews with persons with ID and/or their caregivers. Prevalence of multimorbidity was established and patterns were examined using logistic regression models. The patterns of multimorbidity for people with ID that emerged were then compared with those reported for other older adults. RESULTS: Multimorbidity was established for 71% of the IDS-TILDA sample with women at highest risk and rates of multimorbidity was high (63%) even among those aged 40-49 years. Eye disease and mental health problems were most often associated with a second condition and the most prevalent multimorbidity pattern was mental health/neurological disease. DISCUSSION: Further investigation, attention to mental health issues and the development of treatment guidelines that recognize chronic condition disease load are critical to mitigating the negative impact of multiple chronic conditions and preventing additional disability in adults with ID as they age.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.07.029