The relative influence of intellectual disabilities and autism on sensory impairments and physical disability: A whole-country cohort of 5.3 million children and adults.
Deborah Kinnear, Ewelina Rydzewska, Kirsty Dunn and 4 others
PMID 32187783WHAT IT FOUND
Intellectual disabilities were associated with much higher odds of sight loss, hearing loss and physical disability than autism alone.
Autism was also independently linked to these impairments, but to a lesser extent. Both conditions require heightened vigilance for sensory and physical health issues.
Key findings
01Intellectual disabilities were independently associated with higher odds of blindness or partial sight loss (OR = 30.12 in children/young people; OR = 16.89 in adults) compared to autism (OR = 2.63 in children/young people; OR = 3.29 in adults).
02Autism was independently associated with increased odds of deafness or partial hearing loss (OR = 2.31 in children/young people; OR = 2.36 in adults), as were intellectual disabilities (OR = 13.98 in children/young people; OR = 7.47 in adults).
03Intellectual disabilities showed a stronger association with physical disability (OR = 43.72 in children/young people; OR = 6.04 in adults) than autism did (OR = 5.62 in children/young people; OR = 3.16 in adults).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Data was self-reported or reported by caregivers, not clinically validated, so reporting errors are possible and unquantified. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine causation or the direction of the relationships. Blindness and partial sight loss were not differentiated, nor were deafness and partial hearing loss. The Census did not capture whether impairments were congenital or acquired, or linked to genetic syndromes. Autism prevalence was lower in adults, possibly reflecting older diagnostic criteria, meaning adults with autism may represent a more severe subset.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the UK Medical Research Council. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume autism carries the same level of risk for physical disability or severe sensory loss as intellectual disabilities. While both conditions are associated with these impairments, the odds are substantially higher for intellectual disabilities, particularly for physical disability and sight loss.