Mental health problems in elderly people with and without Down's syndrome.
This article reports on age-specific findings of mental health problems among residents with Down's syndrome (DS) (n = 307) and without (non-DS) (n = 1274 in dutch group homes and institutes for people with mental retardation. Whereas a proportional increase of psychological problems was found for elderly DS persons with severe mental retardation, non-DS residents did not show such age-specific differences. High ratings of psychological problems for the elderly DS residents corresponded very well with the diagnosis of 'dementia' made by the physicians. Only for non-DS persons with severe mental retardation was a proportional decrease of challenging behaviour found with advanced age. Whereas psychological problems in elderly DS persons could be explained for the greater part of the diagnosis 'dementia', challenging behaviour--although also common in elderly DS--was shown to be a more independent phenomenon. With regard to psychiatric diagnosis, non-DS residents with mild retardation had six times as much a mental disorder, and non-DS residents with severe or profound mental retardation had up to 15 times as much, compared with their DS peers.
Haveman
M J
MJ
Department of Epidemiology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Maaskant
M A
MA
van Schrojenstein Lantman
H M
HM
Urlings
H F
HF
Kessels
A G
AG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D012931:Social Environment