The prevalence and balance of care for intellectual disability: Secondary analyses of the OPCS disability surveys

Government policy continues to emphasise the commissioning and needs-assessment role of health authorities, local authorities and - to a greater extent - general practitioners. To date, much available information for this purpose has been based on service utilisation data or from registers based on case finding from service contacts. As an alternative, we conducted secondary analyses of the national Surveys of Disability of Children and Adults by the Office of population Censuses and Surveys. The prevalence of intellectual disability for people who had 'mental handicap' reported as an underlying health problem was 3.5 per 1000 in the overall population. Rates rose from 1.7 per 1000 among those aged 4 and under, reaching a peak of 6.3 per 1000 among 16-19 year olds and falling to 2.8 per 1000 among people aged 75 or more. Residence in a communal establishment increased markedly with age. People in households had high levels of disability and consequently problems with personal care. Furthermore, behaviour problems were commonplace. Consequently, carers spent long hours caring and often reported adverse effects on their health.