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We recently came across the following article:

Buckles, J., Luckasson, R.. & Keefe, E. (2013). A systematic review of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adults with intellectual disability, 2003-2010. Journal on Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 6:181-207

This article reviews existing studies on the co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions and intellectual disability in adults. The authors found that “overall prevalence rates for co-occurring psychiatric symptoms or disorders reported in these studies ranged from 13.9% to 75.2% with much of this variation due to differences in the diagnostic criteria utilized and the specific samples examined.” The authors also noted the dearth of relevant studies reporting similar prevalence data from the Americas (all of the studies in their review came from the UK, Norway, Sweden and Australia). This prompted us to take a look and see what NCI data have to say about co-occurring ID/DD and diagnosed mental illness.

We looked at data from the 2011-2012 Adult Consumer Survey. In the Background Information Section of the survey there is a question on additional diagnoses, of which mental illness or psychiatric diagnosis is one. The Background Information Section requests data that would most likely be found in agency records or information systems, and is usually completed prior to the direct interview with the individual receiving services. None of the data in this blog post have been tested for statistical significance.

Of the total sample of 11,621 individuals, 33.5% have a diagnosis of mental illness or psychiatric diagnosis. 

The CDC estimates that about 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness.

It is interesting to look at the psychiatric diagnosis data by level of ID. The data show that diagnosis with mental illness or a psychiatric diagnosis goes down as level of ID becomes more profound.

NCI data on psychiatric diagnoses are made more relevant when looked at in conjunction with the most recent NCI data brief, entitled “What does NCI tell us about adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are taking prescribed medications for anxiety, behavior challenges, mood disorders or psychotic disorders?” 

In the brief, NCI data from the Adult Consumer Survey 2010-2011 on psychiatric diagnosis and medication use are discussed. The brief says:

Eighty eight percent (88%) of people with a psychiatric diagnosis were taking medications for mood, anxiety or psychotic disorders. However, thirty percent (30%) of people without such diagnoses were also taking medications for at least one of these conditions. Amongst people taking medications for mood, anxiety or psychotic disorders, 41% did not have a psychiatric diagnosis.

On Friday, March 29 from 1:30-3:00pm Eastern Time, HSRI and NASDDDS will be conducting a webinar on current NCI medications data as well as state efforts to quell high rates of medication use by the adults they serve. For more info, please see http://www.hsri.org/news-events/nci-webinar-on-medication-and-state-efforts-to-reduce-overuse/

We look forward to discovering more about what NCI data show about psychiatric diagnoses and ID/DD. As always, please send any comments or questions to dhiersteiner@hsri.org

Please note: The 2011-12 data reports will be released and placed on the NCI website this spring. For more in depth analysis of previous years’ NCI  Adult Consumer Survey data, please see http://www.nationalcoreindicators.org.