There are no previous whole-country studies on mental health and its relationships with general health in learning disabilities populations; other study results vary. This study aimed to determine (1) the prevalence of mental health conditions and, (2) relationships with general health in a total population with and without learning disabilities.
We extracted data from Scotland’s Census, 2011 (94% completion rate), on learning disabilities, mental health, and general health. We calculated, for people with and without learning disabilities, the prevalence of mental health conditions. We conducted logistic regressions to determine the odds ratios of learning disabilities predicting poor mental health, and, within the learning disabilities population, the associations of poor mental health with general health status, adjusted for age and gender.
26,349/5,295,403 (0.5%) had learning disabilities, of whom 12.8% children, 23.4% adults, 27.2% older adults had mental health conditions compared with 0.3%, 5.3%, 4.5% general population. Learning disabilities predicted mental health conditions: OR=7.1 (95% CI 6.8-7.3). General health was substantially poorer, and associated with mental health conditions: fair health OR=1.8 (95% CI 1.7-1.9), bad/very bad health OR=4.2 (95% CI 3.9-4.6). Female gender reduced the likelihood of mental health conditions: OR=0.89 (95% CI 0.89-0.95); and increase in age group up to 64 years predicted mental health conditions, thereafter the odds ratios plateaued.
This large-scale, whole-country study findings are important, given the previously stated lack of confidence in comparative prevalence results with the general population, and the need to plan services accordingly.
Read the full article published in the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities (JARID) at the link below.
Project information last updated August 2020.
Laura is a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Glasgow, and an affiliate of the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory, having joined the team in 2015. With the Observatory, Laura was involved in projects looking at the health of people with learning disabilities in a number of large data-sets, including primary health care records, Scotland's 2011 Census and health records of people born with Down Syndrome in Scotland over a 25 year period. Laura studied Psychology and has extensive experience of working with people with learning disabilities in her previous roles, for example, as a Befriender, a Learning Assistant and an Assistant Psychologist. Read more about Laura at the link below
Anna set up the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory with funding from the Scottish Government. She wants the Observatory to make Scotland fairer and healthier for people with learning disabilities and their families, by: Finding out the health problems people have Finding out how good or bad health care is Telling people about health and health care problems Finding ways to make health and health care better Checking if health gets better or worse over time Helping the Scottish Government, and staff who provide health and social services, to get it right for people with learning disabilities Anna is a doctor. She has done a lot of studies on the health of people with learning disabilities. Anna’s full name is Professor Sally-Ann Cooper.
Angela was formerly the Director for Policy and Impact for the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory and remains an affiliate team member, having moved in 2024 to work with the Scottish Government leading the development of annual health checks and learning disabilities data. Angela is interested in how evidence is used in policy making and was involved in many projects at the Observatory. These included: Understanding the impact of Covid-19 on people with learning disabilities The Research Voices Project Helping to set up the SPIRE learning disabilities data project Analysing information about drug prescribing for people with learning disabilities
