Background: The vast health inequities experienced by people with intellectual disability remain indisputable. Persistent and contemporary challenges exist for primary healthcare providers and researchers working to contribute to improvements to the health and well-being of people with intellectual disability. Over two decades after the only…

Background: Health checks for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) have been recommended as one component of health policy responses to the poorer health of people with ID. This review summarises evidence on the impact of health checks on the health and well-being of people with ID. Methods: Electronic literature searches and email contacts…

Background: As patterns of morbidity and mortality are changing, more people with intellectual disabilities develop cancer or other life-limiting illness. This paper reviews the literature around the need of people with intellectual disabilities for palliative care. Methods: A range of databases and the World Wide Web were searched for relevant…

Discusses the need to increase the supply of psychotherapeutic services for those people with emotional problems who are mentally retarded or have IQs between 70 and 80. Suggests that clinical psychologists can play an important role in developing the needed services. (Author/GC)

This literature review describes the physical activity behavior of adults with mental retardation consistent with the U.S. Surgeon General's recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days per week. The proportion of participants achieving this criterion ranges from 17.5 to 33%. These data are likely to be…

The literature on health care for individuals with mental retardation is reviewed. Major topics include: specific needs of individuals with intellectual impairments, the role of parents in health care, the need for collaborative relationships between health care professionals and families of children with disabilities, and the need for specific…

The review summarizes research (1978-1989) on the medical needs of persons with mental retardation living in institutional and community settings. Specifically it addresses six questions: (1) do mentally retarded persons in institutions have more serious medical needs than their community counterparts? (2) when people with mental retardation are…

Information on admission to psychiatric inpatient units is lacking from the literature on contemporary services for people with intellectual disability and mental health needs. Here we report on predictors of admission for a cohort of 752 adults from this population living in community settings; 83 were admitted. We also report on two subsamples…

Background: The health needs of people with intellectual disabilities have recently received increasing attention. Method: Based on a review of the 2003 literature, this paper presents an overview of our knowledge on physical, mental and social well-being in this group. Results: Physical well-being is threatened by handicap-related conditions,…