Background: Depression, anxiety, diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors are frequent health problems among older people with intellectual disability (ID). These conditions may be bidirectionally related. Depression and anxiety may have biological effects causing glucose intolerance, fat accumulation and also lifestyle changes causing metabolic…

Background: Sleep affects children's cognitive development, preparedness for school and future academic outcomes. People with Down syndrome (DS) are particularly at risk for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). To our knowledge, the association between SDB and cognition in preschoolers with DS is unknown. Methods: We assessed sleep by using…

Background: Children with intellectual disability (ID) are at risk for maladaptive development of social relatedness. Controversy exists whether Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) takes precedence over disordered attachment for describing maladaptive social behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of disordered attachment…

Background: Patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) receive health care by proxy. It is family members and/or paid support staff who must recognise health problems, communicate with clinicians, and report the benefits, if any, of a particular treatment. At the same time international and national statutes protect and promote the right of…

Background: Effective cancer screening must be available for all eligible individuals without discrimination. Lower rates of cervical and breast cancer screening have been reported in certain groups compared with women from the general population, such as women with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Research on the factors…

Background: Present day service systems evolved from the traditional model of disability intervention where the child with the disability and the family were viewed as pathological entities that needed to be fixed rather than supported. Scholars have increasingly called for a greater focus on the family in service delivery, but few studies have…

Background: Intellectual disability (ID) accounts for 70% of all disabilities among children in China's Second National Sampling Survey on Disability. Although studies have shown a relationship between social class and ID in children, none have investigated the association of socioeconomic variables in Chinese children with mild or severe ID.…

Background: This survey study aims to examine the prevalence and factors associated with depressive symptoms among primary older female family carers of adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). Method: In total, 350 female family carers aged 55 and older took part and completed the interview in their homes. The survey package contained…

Background: Intellectual disability (ID), age and aboriginal status have been independently implicated as risk factors for offending to varying degrees. This study examined the relationship between age, ID and the Indigenous status of juvenile offenders. It also examined the outcomes of the sample's offending in terms of court appearances and…

Background: Previous studies suggested that children diagnosed with fragile X syndrome (FXS) often meet criteria for autism or PDD. This study describes the fine motor abilities of children diagnosed with FXS with and without autism spectrum disorder, and compares the motor scores of those groups controlling for cognitive level. Method:…

Background: Although individuals with Down syndrome are increasingly living into the adult years, infants and young children with the syndrome continue to be at increased risk for health problems. Using linked, statewide administrative hospital discharge records of all infants with Down syndrome born over a 3-year period, this study "follows…

Background: The aim of the current study was to update an existing short measure of sexual knowledge and generate some initial reliability and normative data. Comparisons of sexual knowledge across several groups were made to examine whether or not a lack of sexual knowledge is related to sexual offending. Methods: The Bender Sexual Knowledge…

Background: Numerous studies have demonstrated high rates of osteoporosis and fractures in women with intellectual disabilities (IDs). All of the studies use either institutionalized women or women in the community recruited at adult day-care centres or specialty clinics. We examined the prevalence of fractures in women with IDs who attend a…

Background: Little is known about the factors affecting the risk of behavioural and emotional problems in young people with severe intellectual disability (ID), although such evidence as there is suggests that there may be differences between the pattern of risk factors in this group and those that operate in general population samples of the same…

Background: Studies of people with intellectual disability suggest that several individual characteristics and environmental factors are associated with behaviour disorder. To date there are few studies looking at risk factors within specific syndromes and the relationship between early risk markers and later behaviour disorder. The key aim of the…