Health characteristics and health services utilization in older adults with intellectual disability living in community residences.
Older adults with ID show rising heart and joint disease, but classic red flags like high blood pressure are under-reported—screen deeper, not less.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hastings et al. (2002) asked the adults with intellectual disability about their health. Ages ranged from 40 to 79. All lived in group homes or similar community residences.
Staff helped fill a 45-item checklist. It covered heart disease, diabetes, vision, hearing, joint pain, and medicine use. The team compared answers to national data for people without ID.
What they found
Heart trouble, arthritis, and poor vision rose sharply after age 60. Yet smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol were reported less often than in the general public.
The low numbers may mean disease is missed. Adults with ID often cannot report chest pain or blurred vision. Staff may not check labs every year.
How this fits with other research
Meyer (1999) saw the same pattern first. In 134 elders, physical illness plus age predicted dementia. P et al. later confirmed the link in a much larger sample.
Foti et al. (2015) dug deeper. They found anxiety doubled diabetes odds in 990 older adults with ID. This extends P’s warning that risk looks lower than it really is.
Diaz (2020) offers hope. Leisure walking cut early death risk in adults with ID. The result supports P’s call to catch heart risk early and act on it.
Why it matters
If you serve adults with ID over 40, treat every birthday as a red flag. Add blood pressure, glucose, and vision checks to the annual plan. Ask direct support staff to watch for fatigue, limping, or mood shifts. Small preventive steps now can spare hospital trips later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The health status and health needs of adults with intellectual disability (ID) change with advancing age, and are often accompanied by difficulties with vision, hearing, mobility, stamina and some mental processes. AIM: The present study collected health status information on a large cohort of adults with ID aged > or = 40 years living in small group, community-based residences in two representative areas of New York State, USA. METHOD: Adult group home residents with ID aged between 40 and 79 years (n = 1371) were surveyed to determine their health status and patterns of morbidity. RESULTS: Most subjects were characterized as being in good health. The frequency of cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and respiratory conditions, and sensory impairments increased with age, while neurological, endocrine and dermatological diseases did not. Psychiatric and behavioural disorders declined with increasing age, at least through 70 years of age. Although most conditions increased with age, their frequency varied by sex and level of ID. Frequencies of age-related organ system morbidity were compared to data from the National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey III. It was found that adults with ID had a lower overall reported frequency of cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, and adult-onset diabetes. Inconsistencies with mortality data among older adults with ID were observed (which showed equal if not greater prevalence of deaths as a result of cardiovascular disease and cancer). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that either a cohort effect is operating (i.e. contemporary populations are healthier than previous populations), or that there may be under-recognition of select risk factors and diseases.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2002 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2002.00385.x