Introduction: Hypothyroidism is a chronic health condition which causes physical, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. The prevalence of hypothyroidism in adults with intellectual disabilities is under researched. Method: Hypothyroidism was examined among 463 patients within an outpatient intellectual disability psychiatric team. Clinic records…

Background: Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) have very low physical activity and low peak oxygen uptake (VO[subscript 2peak]), potentially explained by physiologically lower peak heart rates (HR[subscript peak]). Method: The present authors performed a retrospective analysis of a large data set of individuals with intellectual…

Background: Overweight and obesity are major health risk factors in people with intellectual disabilities. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a multicomponent programme (physical activity, diet and motivation) for overweight and obesity in adults with intellectual disabilities. Material and Methods: A quasi-experimental design…

Background: Sensory assessment of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) can be difficult for several reasons, including the idiosyncratic reactions that these individuals exhibit to environmental stimuli. This case report presents a combination of behavioural and physiological measurements aimed at providing an…

Background: Little is known about the menopause in women with intellectual disabilities (ID) save that its onset is earlier than in the general population, and earlier still in women with Down's syndrome (DS). This study directly explored menopausal experiences in women with ID, both with and without DS, with the aim of identifying levels of…

Background: The purpose of this study is to describe feasibility and test-retest reliability of the six-minute walking distance test (6MWD) and an adapted shuttle run test (aSRT) in persons with severe intellectual and sensory (multiple) disabilities. Materials and Methods: Forty-seven persons with severe multiple disabilities, with Gross Motor…

Background: Because of limited communicative skills, it is not self-evident to measure subjective well-being in people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. As a first step towards a non-interpretive measure of subjective well-being, we explored how the respiratory, cardiovascular and electro dermal response systems were associated…

Background: When phenylketonuria (PKU) is not diagnosed and long-term treatment commenced within the first few weeks of life, permanent brain damage will occur. There is some evidence to show that late diagnosed or untreated people with PKU who have severe challenging behaviours may benefit from a low phenylalanine diet [Harper & Reid (1987)…