Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Mental illness and learning disability

A survey of 651 people with learning disabilities in Glasgow has found that over the two-year course of the study 16.3% of them suffered from mental illness, a rate 1.87 times higher than that of the population as a whole. Factors related to mental illness among this group of people included : type of accomodation and support, previous mental ill-health, urinary incontinence, having a more severe intellectual disability, being abused as an adult and parental divorce in childhood. Deprivation, child abuse, daytime occupation and marital smoking status showed no relation to mental illness in this group of people.

Smiley, E. ... [et al] - Incidence and predictors of mental ill-health in adults with intellectual disabilities British Journal of Psychiatry October 2007, 191, 313-319

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