The association between medication use and gait in adults with intellectual disabilities.
Multiple meds make adults with ID walk less safely—screen gait yearly and push for deprescribing.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers watched the adults with intellectual disability walk.
They counted how many meds each person took.
Then they linked drug load to tiny changes in step length and balance.
What they found
People on three or more drugs took shorter steps.
They kept both feet on the ground longer between steps.
This cautious style raises fall risk, even when the drugs help mood or behavior.
How this fits with other research
Arwert et al. (2020) also saw odd gait in adults with autism.
But they blamed the diagnosis itself, not the drugs.
The new study shows meds can create similar patterns in adults with ID.
MacRae et al. (2015) and Jackson et al. (2025) warn that adults with ID often hide diabetes.
Tight gait screening now joins blood-sugar checks in yearly health visits.
Why it matters
If your client with ID takes multiple meds, watch them walk.
Shuffling steps or wide stance can signal higher fall risk.
Share the video with the doctor and ask if any drug can be reduced or switched.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) often have polypharmacy and often use antipsychotics. Both polypharmacy and antipsychotics have a negative effect on gait in the general population, but this has not been studied in adults with ID. These negative effects may add to pre-existing gait disturbances in adults with ID and increase the risk for adverse health outcomes in this population. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the difference in gait parameters between adults with ID with and without polypharmacy and between adults with ID using and not using antipsychotics. METHOD: The gait parameters of 31 participants were collected with the GAITRite walkway, a pressure sensitive walkway measuring spatial and temporal gait parameters, in addition to information about personal characteristics, prescribed medication and presence of polypharmacy. RESULTS: After adjustment for sex and body mass index, participants with polypharmacy had a significantly shorter step length [polypharmacy B (SE) = -0.079 (0.034), P = 0.03], shorter stride length [polypharmacy B (SE) = -0.157 (0.069), P = 0.03] and longer double support time [polypharmacy B (SE) = 0.0004 (0.0001), P = 0.047]. Participants using antipsychotics had a significantly longer double support time [antipsychotic use B (SE) = 0.0003 (0.0002), P = 0.019]. CONCLUSION: This study showed for the first time that both polypharmacy and using antipsychotics are associated with gait in adults with ID. The differences seem to resemble a more cautious gait. Further investigation with larger study samples, additional medication types and dosages are needed to acquire more insight in this important topic.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2020 · doi:10.1111/jir.12773