Prevalence and incidence of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident in ageing persons with intellectual disability.
Adults with ID face the same heart attack and stroke odds as everyone else once they reach 50.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tassé et al. (2013) tracked heart attacks and strokes in adults with intellectual disability over 50.
They used the same Dutch HA-ID cohort that Grindle et al. (2012) studied.
The team counted new cases and compared them to rates in the general public.
What they found
Heart attack and stroke rates were the same for adults with ID and everyone else.
No big differences showed up in the numbers.
How this fits with other research
Grindle et al. (2012) looked at the same group and also found no extra risk.
Haider et al. (2013) saw worse health in Australian adults with ID, but that sample was younger. The age gap explains the clash.
de Leeuw et al. (2024) later showed most cardiac problems in this cohort were missed until an ECG was done.
Why it matters
You can stop thinking adults with ID are doomed to extra heart trouble. Use the same cardiac screening schedule you use for any adult over 50. Just make sure the screening actually happens—many problems still go unnoticed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Epidemiological information on age-related cardiovascular disease in people with intellectual disability (ID) is scarce and inconclusive. We compared prevalence and incidence of cerebrovascular accident and myocardial infarction over age 50 in a residential population with ID to that in a general practice population. METHOD: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted, based on medical records of 510 persons with ID and 823 general practice patients, aged 50 years and over. RESULTS: Lifetime prevalences after age 50 were similar in both populations: 5.7% (95% CI 4.0-8.1%) in persons with ID and 4.4% (95% CI 3.1-6.0%) in the general population (Pearson chi-square 1.17, P = 0.279). Incidence per gender was similar between cohorts (men P = 0.86, women P = 0.36). There was no difference in incidence rates between the ID and control groups [relative risk = 1.5 (95% CI 0.9-2.4)]. CONCLUSION: Prevalence and incidence of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident in ageing persons with ID do not appear different from those in the general population. It has to be taken into account that underdiagnosis and selection bias towards a more disabled group may have lead to underestimation of age-related cardiovascular morbidity, and the higher age and underrepresentation of Down syndrome to overestimation.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2013 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2012.01567.x