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15 - Mental health and epilepsy among adults with intellectual disabilities

from Part II - Psychopathology and special topics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

By
Shoumitro Deb
Edited by
Nick Bouras  and
Geraldine Holt
Shoumitro Deb
Affiliation:
Clinical Professor of Neuropsychiatry & Intellectual Disability, University of Birmingham
Nick Bouras
Affiliation:
King's College London
Geraldine Holt
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

Prevalence of epilepsy in people who have ID

Epilepsy is a tendency of occurrence of transient recurrent abnormal electrical discharges in the brain, affecting one or more of the following brain functions: motor, sensory, cognitive, speech, behavioural, emotional and psychological. Around 0.5% of the general population has epilepsy (Chadwick, 1994). A much higher proportion of people who have intellectual disabilities (ID) have epilepsy. Although the exact figure is not known, the reported prevalence of lifetime epilepsy among people who have ID (IQ < 70) varies between 14% and 24% (Rutter et al., 1976; Forsgren et al., 1990; Goulden et al., 1991; McGrother et al., 1996; Deb, 1997a). The prevalence rate depends on the age of the person, severity and cause of ID, and the presence and absence of associated neurological conditions. For example, the cumulative incidence of epilepsy was reported to be 9%, 11%, 13% and 15% among people with ID at age 5, 10, 15 and 22 years respectively (Goulden et al., 1991).

The rate of epilepsy increases with the severity of ID. Steffenburg et al. (1996) found among 378 children with ID between age 6 and 13, that 15% of those with mild ID, as opposed to 45% of those with severe ID, had epilepsy. Similarly Shepherd and Hosking (1989) found 7% of children with mild to moderate ID, and 67% of those with severe ID, had epilepsy.

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Psychiatric and Behavioural Disorders in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities , pp. 238 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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