title: The impact of health checks for people with intellectual disabilities: an updated systematic review of evidence.
abstract: Health checks for people with intellectual disabilities have been recommended as one component of international health policy responses to the poorer health of people with intellectual disabilities. This review updates a previously published review summarising evidence on the impact of health checks on the health and well-being of people with intellectual disabilities. Electronic literature searches and email contacts were used to identify literature relevant to the impact of health checks for people with intellectual disabilities published from 1989 to 2013. Forty-eight publications were identified, of which eight articles and two reports were newly identified and not included in the previous review. These involved checking the health of people with intellectual disabilities from a range of countries including a full range of people with intellectual disabilities. Health checks consistently led to detection of unmet health needs and targeted actions to address health needs. Health checks also had the potential to increase knowledge of the health needs of people with intellectual disabilities amongst health professionals and support staff, and to identify gaps in health services. Health checks are effective in identifying previously unrecognised health needs, including life threatening conditions. Future research should consider strategies for optimising the cost effectiveness or efficiency of health checks.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disability Research, Division of Health Research, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom. Electronic address: j.m.robertson@lancaster.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disability Research, Division of Health Research, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hatton
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disability Research, Division of Health Research, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom; Centre for Disability Research and Policy, University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disability Research, Division of Health Research, School of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Susannah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baines
mesh_terms: D006291:Health Policy; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D011320:Primary Health Care
keywords: Health checks; Intellectual disabilities