Mortality of the Mentally Deficient: A Study of 12,903 Institutionalised Subjects

Behaviour disorders and other characteristics of the population of a mental handicap hospital

“…These two possibilities may both play a part in accounting for the observed effects, but the most likely explanation is that the severity of behaviour disorders actually declines with age, partly as a result of physiological changes and partly because people gain control over their behaviour as they become older. Forssman and Akesson (1970) found no difference in mortality between 2,575 people who were defined as "hard to manage" and the other 10,298 individuals in their total sample. Differential mortality may thus bear little relationship to the observed age changes.…”

“…While there are a few total-population studies reported in the literature (Penrose, 1938), the majority of them tend to concentrate on specific data, such as mortality trends, rather than on providing a broad background of information (Forssman and Akesson, 1970;Richards and Siddiqui, 1980).…”

Age and functional abilities of people with a mental handicap: evidence from the Wessex mental handicap register

“…Many studies have made reference to the importance of investigating the specific needs of this group (see Janicki & Wisniewski, 1985;Hogg et al, 1988, for reviews), the term 'double jeopardy' (Sweeney & Wilson, 1979) having been coined to emphasize that older people with mental handicap belong to two socially disadvantaged sections of the population. The lower life expectancy of people with mental handicap compared with that of the general population (Forssman & Akesson, 1970;Chaney et al, 1979) might suggest the health of older clients may be poorer than that of non-handicapped peers. However, the evidence presented here suggets that the impact of differential mortality is so marked that the surviving population of older people demonstrates fewer heallh problems than that of younger age groups.…”

Surgical management of gastroesophageal reflux in severely mentally retarded children

“…The mortality rate in institutionalized MR children in England and Wales in 1956: 25% of profound MR died before age 5 years and 50% before 10 years (Tizard, 1965). In Forssman & Akesson's (1970) study of 12 903 institutionahzed mentally deficient patients, the death rate was 18-1% to 10 years of age and 11-3% between 10 and 15 years. In those with mental deficiency and epilepsy, mortality was 31-4% and 24-7%, respectively.…”