title: Aging in adults with intellectual disabilities.
abstract: A cross-sequential design was used to examine changes related to aging in adults with and without Down syndrome (ns = 55 and 75, respectively). Adults received yearly neuropsychological and medical evaluations. Support for precocious aging in adults with Down syndrome was evident only on a test of verbal fluency, with weaker support obtained on a test of fine-motor skills. Cross-sectional age differences for all adults were obtained on tests of memory and community living skills. General intellectual level, gender, and psychiatric status were consistently related to performance, indicating the need to examine such mediating variables in studies on aging.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Medical School-Houston, USA. dbburt@chorus.net
authors.forename: Diana B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Burt
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Primeaux-Hart
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Loveland
authors.forename: Lynne A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cleveland
authors.forename: Kay R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Jary
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lesser
authors.forename: Pamela L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Pearson
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D019588:Aging, Premature / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012307:Risk Factors; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014888:Wechsler Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data