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. 2013 Sep 1;10(3):10.1111/jppi.12042.
doi: 10.1111/jppi.12042.

Intellectual Disability, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Risk for Dementia

Wayne P Silverman  1 , Warren B Zigman, Sharon J Krinsky-McHale, Robert Ryan, Nicole Schupf
Affiliations

Intellectual Disability, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Risk for Dementia

Wayne P Silverman et al. J Policy Pract Intellect Disabil. .

Abstract

People with intellectual disability (ID) are living longer than ever before, raising concerns about old-age associated disorders. Dementia is among the most serious of these disorders, and theories relating cognitive reserve to risk predict that older adults with ID should be particularly vulnerable. Previous estimates of relative risk for dementia associated with ID have been inconsistent, and the present analyses examined the possible influence of variation in diagnostic criteria on findings. As expected, relaxation in the stringency of case definition for adults with ID increased relative risk, underscoring the importance of developing valid criteria for defining mild cognitive impairment, early dementia, and distinguishing between the two in adults with ID. Once available, these standards will contribute to more effective evidence-based planning.

Keywords: dementia; incidence; intellectual disability; mild cognitive impairment; relative risk.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cumulative incidence of dementia for adults with intellectual disability (higher curves in each panel) compared to general population controls (lower curves). Positive cases with ID were restricted to individuals with a primary consensus classification of “Dementia” in Figure 1a, while Figure 1b shows comparable curves when cases with ID also included individuals with mild cognitive impairment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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