The life expectancy of profoundly handicapped people with mental retardation

Article Abstract:

Children and adults who have severe mental retardation are known to have a lower life expectancy than the population at large. A study was conducted of 99,543 people with various developmental disabilities, including mental retardation, to ascertain their life expectancy. The population of people who were mentally retarded and suffered from urinary incontinence were divided into three groups: 1,550 individuals who were immobile and required tube feeding; 4,513 individuals who were immobile and required assistance to eat; and 997 individuals who were mobile by means other than walking, and could eat with assistance. Individuals in the first group had the shortest life expectancy, four to five years. Individuals in the second group had a life expectancy of approximately eight more years. Individuals who were mobile had a life expectancy of an additional 23 years. Other studies have shown that mobility, toilet training, and feeding skills can have a profound effect on survival. The study shows that life expectancy with any degree of mobility, e.g., crawling, is associated with a strongly enhanced life expectancy. The leading cause of death among mentally retarded individuals is from respiratory disease, particularly pneumonia. Severe mental retardation is also correlated with defects of coughing, swallowing, and shallow respiration associated with decreased lung capacity. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Physiological aspects, Surveys

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Mortality and the acquisition of basic skills by children and adults with severe disabilities

Article Abstract:

Patients with developmental disabilities who do not demonstrate mobility by age two appear to have less than a 20% chance of improvement in their ability to move or feed themselves. Of 7,836 people under age 22 with diagnosed or suspected mental retardation, 1,330 (Group 1) were fed by tube and immobile, 3,309 (Group 2) were fed by others and immobile and 3,197 (Group 3) showed signs of mobility and were fed by others. In Group 1, the most probable five-year outcome among infants up to age two was death or no change in their abilities to move or feed themselves. Among patients in Group 2, the probability of improvements in mobility was slightly higher than the probability of improvements in feeding ability. Five-year death rates among patients in Group 3 were relatively low until past age 40. If children in Group 3 had not acquired self-feeding skills by age six, the chances were less than 30% that they would acquire them or the related abilities of toilet training and self-dressing.

Prognosis, Developmental disabilities

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Survival of profoundly disabled people with severe mental retardation

Article Abstract:

Disabled patients suffering from severe mental retardation may have a significantly shorter life span than other individuals. Individuals who are unable to move their extremities or bodies or who require tube feeding are less likely to survive than other individuals. A study examined the survival over an 11-year period of 128,248 disabled individuals suffering from severe mental retardation. The survival time of individuals who were immobile and could not roll over was significantly shorter than that of other individuals. Immobile patients who could roll over survived significantly longer. The survival time of individuals who were tube fed was significantly shorter than that of individuals who could eat when fed by others. Premature death was caused mainly by respiratory complications in individuals with restricted movement.

Disabled persons

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