title: Prevalence of epilepsy in adults with mental retardation and related disabilities in primary care.
abstract: Two primary care practices were used to recruit adults with and without disability. Disability groups included autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and mental retardation. The patients without disability had an epilepsy prevalence rate of 1%. The prevalence of epilepsy within the disability groups was 13% for cerebral palsy, 13.6% for Down syndrome; 25.4% for autism, 25.5% for mental retardation, and 40% for adults with both cerebral palsy and mental retardation. During the decades of adulthood, the prevalence of epilepsy declined for those with cerebral palsy and mental retardation. The prevalence of epilepsy increased with advancing years for adults with Down syndrome, autism, and those without disability. Nonetheless, during each decade the prevalence of epilepsy was higher in all of the disability groups compared to those without disability.
authors.affiliation: University of South Carolina School of Medicine, USA. suzanne.mcdermott@sc.edu
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McDermott
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.forename: Tan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Platt
authors.forename: Hope
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Terri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isaac
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dasari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies