title: The prevalence of mental retardation among third grade elementary school children in the Suwon area, Korea.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of mental retardation (MR) in Korea. The study population comprised 1,757 third-grade elementary school children residing in a single school district in Suwon, Korea. We conducted the total population survey for 1,537 children who attended one of 5 schools in the district. For the remaining 220 children who did not attend a school in the school district, we found children with MR via inspection of the register list of the disabled. A total of 16 children (7 of the 1,537 children and 9 of the 220 children) were found to have MR, yielding a prevalence of MR of 9.1/1,000. Considering that about 60% of the people with disabilities are registered in Korea, there would be at least 6 unregistered children with MR among the 220 children, so that the prevalence of MR can be estimated at 12.5/1,000 for the Suwon area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea. syyim@madang.ajou.ac.kr
authors.forename: Shin Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.forename: Hyun Hee
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Il Yung
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools