Multimorbidity in older adults with intellectual disabilities.
Plan for multiple chronic illnesses in any client with ID past 50—then coordinate care to keep them out of the ER.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 1,047 Irish adults with intellectual disability about their health.
Everyone was 50 or older.
They counted how many chronic conditions each person had.
What they found
Eight out of ten people had two or more chronic illnesses.
The risk jumped higher for people with severe or profound ID.
Age made the risk climb even more.
How this fits with other research
Freeman et al. (2015) mapped Sweden and showed the same group is growing fast in the north.
Durbin et al. (2018) found these adults land in the ER more often when primary-care visits are spotty.
Together the three papers draw one picture: more older adults with ID, more illness, and more hospital trips unless care is tight.
van der Miesen et al. (2024) zoomed in on one common problem—constipation admissions—and listed the same risk flags: severe ID, epilepsy, and seizure drugs.
The match tells us the high illness count Heidi saw is already sending people to the hospital for treatable issues.
Why it matters
Expect almost every client with ID over 50 to bring several diagnoses.
Build a care map that schedules regular medical reviews, medication checks, and bowel programs.
Your behavior plan should include liaison visits with primary care to cut emergency trips and keep small problems small.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Multimorbidity may be related to the supposed early aging of people with intellectual disabilities (ID). This group may suffer more often from multimorbidity, because of ID-related physical health conditions, unhealthy lifestyle and metabolic effects of antipsychotic drug use. Multimorbidity has been defined as two or more chronic conditions. Data on chronic conditions have been collected through physical assessment, questionnaires, and medical files. Prevalence, associated factors and clusters of multimorbidity have been studied in 1047 older adults (≥ 50 years) with ID. Multimorbidity was prevalent in 79.8% and associated with age and severe/profound ID. Four or more conditions were prevalent in 46.8% and associated with age, severe/profound ID and Down syndrome. Factor analyses did not reveal a model for disease-clusters with good fit. Multimorbidity is highly prevalent in older adults with ID. Multimorbidity should receive more attention in research and clinical practice for targeted pro-active prevention and treatment.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.01.022