People with intellectual disability in Ireland are still dying young.
Anne Doyle, Michael O'Sullivan, Sarah Craig and 1 others
PMID 33377272WHAT IT FOUND
People with intellectual disability in Ireland still die about 20 years younger than the general population, and this gap has not closed over 16 years.
Those living in large residential settings and those with profound disabilities face the highest mortality rates.
Key findings
01The mean age of death for people with intellectual disability is roughly 20 years lower than for the general population in Ireland.
02Living in congregated settings is associated with nearly four times higher odds of death compared to living with family carers.
03People with profound intellectual disability have the highest death rates, which may have worsened rather than improved over the study period.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The database only includes people known to specialist services, potentially excluding those with intellectual disability who do not access care, who may have worse health outcomes. The exact date of death is not recorded; the year is inferred from when the record was removed, which may exaggerate the age at death. Cause of death is not available in the dataset, so the study cannot determine if deaths were avoidable or linked to specific medical conditions. The study assumes that people removed from the database for reasons other than death have similar mortality rates to those who remained, which is unverified.
Declared interests
No specific conflicts of interest or funding sources are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the slight increase in mean age of death as evidence that the mortality gap is closing. The study found that standardised mortality ratios actually increased, meaning people with intellectual disability are still dying at disproportionately higher rates compared to the general population.