Prevalence of people with intellectual disability in the Netherlands.
Dutch ID prevalence is 0.7 %, slightly down since 1988, giving BCBAs a clear local caseload baseline.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team counted every person with intellectual disability (ID) in the Netherlands. They used GP records, service lists, and school files. The goal was to update the 1988 count.
They checked 16 million citizens. Anyone with an IQ below 70 and daily-life limits was counted.
What they found
0.7 % of Dutch people have ID. That is the individuals. The number is a little smaller than in 1988.
Most people were already known to services. About 5 % were found only in GP data.
How this fits with other research
Davis et al. (1994) built a Dutch mood checklist for the same group. Their tool helps you spot anxiety or depression in adults with mild ID.
Matson et al. (2008) gave us MESSIER cutoffs. Use those scores to judge social-skill level in adults with severe or profound ID.
Hatton et al. (1999) measured staff stress. Knowing the client count from Plant et al. (2007) helps agencies plan caseload size and stress supports.
Why it matters
You now have a hard Dutch number: 1 in every 143 people has ID. Use it when you write grants, plan staffing, or explain prevalence to parents. If you run a practice, expect about seven clients with ID for every the families in your area. Match this count to the MESSIER and PIMRA norms to see how many will likely need social-skill or mental-health screens.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Since the 1990s, people with intellectual disability (ID) in the Netherlands have been moving from institutions to supported accommodation in the community. The Government is in need of recent data on the numbers of these people, to ensure adequate care provision and funding. This paper reports on the prevalence of people with ID in the Netherlands. The research question was: what is the lowest and highest estimation of prevalence of people with ID in the Netherlands? METHODS: Two extrapolation methods were used, each consisting of a number of stages, using general practice databases and ID care services records. RESULTS: The prevalence of people with ID in the Netherlands was 0.7% (111,750 persons). Other assumptions yielded 0.54-0.64%. Arguments for the two extrapolation methods and the lowest and highest estimation of prevalence are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with 1988, there has been a slight decrease in the prevalence of people with ID in the Netherlands, even though we included all age groups and even people with ID of who were not included in ID care services records. By using general practitioner databases it was possible to identify these not registered people with ID.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2007 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2006.00917.x