ArticleBMJ open2022
Rates, causes and predictors of all-cause and avoidable mortality in 163 686 children and young people with and without intellectual disabilities: a record linkage national cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between disability and mortality among children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Mortality Risk Between Ages 11 and 22 Years Among Young People With Neurodisability in England: A National Cohort Study Using Linked Health and Education Data.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2026Article
- Mortality Among Youth and Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual Disability, or Cerebral Palsy.JAMA pediatrics · 2026Article
- Life expectancy of people with intellectual disability: a retrospective cohort study from New South Wales, Australia.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Mental Ill-Health in Mothers Caring for Offspring With Intellectual Disabilities at Different Stages of Caregiving: Secondary Data Analysis and Data Linkage of Administrative and Health Records.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID · 2026Article
- Health inequalities among people with disabilities: an umbrella review and evidence synthesis.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Review
- Avoidable mortality for people with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The Impact of Swallowing Difficulties on Quality of Life in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities in Residential Care: Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate mortality rates and associated factors, and avoidable mortality in children/young people with intellectual disabilities.
designRetrospective cohort; individual record-linked data between Scotland's 2011 Census and 9.5 years of National Records for Scotland death certification data.
settingGeneral community.
participantsChildren and young people with intellectual disabilities living in Scotland aged 5-24 years, and an age-matched comparison group.
main outcome measuresDeaths up to 2020: age of death, age-standardised mortality ratios (age-SMRs); causes of death including cause-specific age-SMRs/sex-SMRs; and avoidable deaths.
resultsDeath occurred in 260/7247 (3.6%) children/young people with intellectual disabilities (crude mortality rate=388/100 000 person-years) and 528/156 439 (0.3%) children/young people without intellectual disabilities (crude mortality rate=36/100 000 person-years). SMRs for children/young people with versus those without intellectual disabilities were 10.7 for all causes (95% CI 9.47 to 12.1), 5.17 for avoidable death (95% CI 4.19 to 6.37), 2.3 for preventable death (95% CI 1.6 to 3.2) and 16.1 for treatable death (95% CI 12.5 to 20.8). SMRs were highest for children (27.4, 95% CI 20.6 to 36.3) aged 5-9 years, and lowest for young people (6.6, 95% CI 5.1 to 8.6) aged 20-24 years. SMRs were higher in more affluent neighbourhoods. Crude mortality incidences were higher for the children/young people with intellectual disabilities for most International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision chapters. The most common underlying avoidable causes of mortality for children/young people with intellectual disabilities were epilepsy, aspiration/reflux/choking and respiratory infection, and for children/young people without intellectual disabilities were suicide, accidental drug-related deaths and car accidents.
conclusionChildren with intellectual disabilities had significantly higher rates of all-cause, avoidable, treatable and preventable mortality than their peers. The largest differences were for treatable mortality, particularly at ages 5-9 years. Interventions to improve healthcare to reduce treatable mortality should be a priority for children/young people with intellectual disabilities. Examples include improved epilepsy management and risk assessments, and coordinated multidisciplinary actions to reduce aspiration/reflux/choking and respiratory infection. This is necessary across all neighbourhoods.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.