The number of mentally retarded--a result of steps taken by society? Changes in the age structure among mentally retarded persons in Sweden 1973-1982.
Medical progress since the 1940s did not create more people with ID—it created older ones.
01Research in Context
What this study did
T (1988) looked at Swedish records from 1973 to 1982. The team counted how many people had an intellectual disability each year.
They also tracked how old those people were. The goal was to see if better medical care changed the numbers.
What they found
The total share of people with intellectual disability stayed flat. But the group got older.
The authors link the ageing to medical gains since 1948. Better care kept more people alive into mid-life and beyond.
How this fits with other research
Moss et al. (2008) extend the story. After 1982, large state homes emptied while small community houses grew. The same adults T (1988) saw living longer now needed new places to live.
Prigge et al. (2013) show the medical side. Adults with mild ID now stay in psychiatric hospitals twice as long as before. The longer stays match the older age mix T (1988) first spotted.
Landes (2017) adds a twist. The extra years do not last forever. After age 65, the death-rate gap between people with and without ID starts to shrink. T (1988) saw the front end of longer life; Landes (2017) shows the back-end limits.
Why it matters
If you plan adult services, expect more clients over 40 and complex health files. Budget for medical follow-up, respiratory care, and sudden retirement. Use the flat prevalence to fight panic claims that ID is “rising.” It is not rising; it is ageing.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The statistics for 1983, issued by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, show among other things, that the age structure among mentally retarded persons has undergone a striking change since 1973, but that the number and proportion of mentally retarded persons in the total population has not changed; there are fewer children and young persons and more adults. The author of this article considers that the reasons for the changes which have taken place during one single decade may preliminarily and hypothetically be attributed to prenatal diagnosis, improved techniques in obstetrics, the introduction of antibiotics in 1948, as well as further noticeable improvements in the medical and social care provided for mentally retarded persons. Apart from prenatal diagnosis, the measures mentioned were not intended to have exactly this result in each specific case, but if the hypotheses--totally or partly--are true, knowledge of the underlying factors will have consequences, first and foremost for future public health and medical services planning. Steps cannot be taken for the restriction or increase of the number of Caesarean sections or prenatal diagnosis, for example, with no thought of the consequences for the increase, respectively decrease in the number of mentally retarded persons. This means that the number of mentally retarded persons in society can be controlled.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1988 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(88)90047-9