Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Mortality patterns and risk among older men and women with intellectual disability : A Swedish national retrospective cohort study

Ng, Nawi ; Flygare Wallén, Eva and Ahlström, Gerd LU orcid (2017) In BMC Geriatrics 17(1).
Abstract

Background: Sweden has closed all institutions and imposed legislation to ensure service and support for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Understanding mortality among older individuals with ID is essential to inform development of health promotion and disease control strategies. We investigated patterns and risk of mortality among older adults with ID in Sweden. Methods: This retrospective cohort study compared older adults aged 55 years and older with ID with a control population. Participants were followed during 2002-2015 or death, and censored if they moved out of Sweden. Individuals with ID were identified from two national registers: one covering all specialist health-care visits (out-patient visits and... (More)

Background: Sweden has closed all institutions and imposed legislation to ensure service and support for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Understanding mortality among older individuals with ID is essential to inform development of health promotion and disease control strategies. We investigated patterns and risk of mortality among older adults with ID in Sweden. Methods: This retrospective cohort study compared older adults aged 55 years and older with ID with a control population. Participants were followed during 2002-2015 or death, and censored if they moved out of Sweden. Individuals with ID were identified from two national registers: one covering all specialist health-care visits (out-patient visits and hospitalisation) and the other covering people accessing social/support services. Individuals with ID (n = 15,289) were matched with a control population by sex, birth year, and year of first hospitalisation/out-patient visit/access to LSS services. Cause-of-death data were recorded using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. Cox proportional hazards regression were conducted to assess if overall and cause-specific mortality rate among individuals with ID was higher than in the Swedish population. Results: The overall mortality rate among individuals with ID was 2483 per 100,000 people compared with 810 in the control population. Among those who died, more individuals with ID were younger than 75 years and unmarried. Leading causes of death among individuals with ID were circulatory diseases (34%), respiratory diseases (17%) and neoplasms (15%). Leading causes of death in a sub-sample with Down syndrome (DS) were respiratory diseases (37%), circulatory diseases (26%) and mental/behavioural disorders (11%). Epilepsy and pneumonitis were more common among individuals with ID than controls. Alzheimer's disease was common in the control population and individuals with DS, but not among those with ID when DS was excluded. Individuals with ID had a higher overall mortality risk (hazard ratio [HR] 4.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.0-4.3) and respiratory disease death risk (HR 12.5, 95% CI 10.9-14.2) than controls. Conclusion: Older adults with ID in Sweden carry a higher mortality risk compared with the general population, mainly attributable to respiratory, nervous and circulatory diseases. Care for this group, particularly during the terminal stage of illness, needs to be tailored based on understanding of their main health problem.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cause of death, Intellectual disability, Mortality risk, Retrospective cohort study, Sweden
in
BMC Geriatrics
volume
17
issue
1
article number
269
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:29166873
  • wos:000416051300001
  • scopus:85034999010
ISSN
1471-2318
DOI
10.1186/s12877-017-0665-3
project
Ageing persons with intellectual disability, health and mortality, healthcare utilization and social welfare: a Swedish national longitudinal population study
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0440f4ef-d4e4-4f8e-a8fa-a411c31ef017
date added to LUP
2017-12-14 13:27:16
date last changed
2024-03-01 12:11:13
@article{0440f4ef-d4e4-4f8e-a8fa-a411c31ef017,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Sweden has closed all institutions and imposed legislation to ensure service and support for individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Understanding mortality among older individuals with ID is essential to inform development of health promotion and disease control strategies. We investigated patterns and risk of mortality among older adults with ID in Sweden. Methods: This retrospective cohort study compared older adults aged 55 years and older with ID with a control population. Participants were followed during 2002-2015 or death, and censored if they moved out of Sweden. Individuals with ID were identified from two national registers: one covering all specialist health-care visits (out-patient visits and hospitalisation) and the other covering people accessing social/support services. Individuals with ID (n = 15,289) were matched with a control population by sex, birth year, and year of first hospitalisation/out-patient visit/access to LSS services. Cause-of-death data were recorded using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. Cox proportional hazards regression were conducted to assess if overall and cause-specific mortality rate among individuals with ID was higher than in the Swedish population. Results: The overall mortality rate among individuals with ID was 2483 per 100,000 people compared with 810 in the control population. Among those who died, more individuals with ID were younger than 75 years and unmarried. Leading causes of death among individuals with ID were circulatory diseases (34%), respiratory diseases (17%) and neoplasms (15%). Leading causes of death in a sub-sample with Down syndrome (DS) were respiratory diseases (37%), circulatory diseases (26%) and mental/behavioural disorders (11%). Epilepsy and pneumonitis were more common among individuals with ID than controls. Alzheimer's disease was common in the control population and individuals with DS, but not among those with ID when DS was excluded. Individuals with ID had a higher overall mortality risk (hazard ratio [HR] 4.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.0-4.3) and respiratory disease death risk (HR 12.5, 95% CI 10.9-14.2) than controls. Conclusion: Older adults with ID in Sweden carry a higher mortality risk compared with the general population, mainly attributable to respiratory, nervous and circulatory diseases. Care for this group, particularly during the terminal stage of illness, needs to be tailored based on understanding of their main health problem.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ng, Nawi and Flygare Wallén, Eva and Ahlström, Gerd}},
  issn         = {{1471-2318}},
  keywords     = {{Cause of death; Intellectual disability; Mortality risk; Retrospective cohort study; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Geriatrics}},
  title        = {{Mortality patterns and risk among older men and women with intellectual disability : A Swedish national retrospective cohort study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0665-3}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12877-017-0665-3}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}