Frequency of sensory impairment in patients with intellectual disability: a cross-sectional study
Sensory impairment in intellectual disability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52442/jrmi.v11i3.723Keywords:
Hearing Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Sensory Impairment, Visual ImpairmentAbstract
Introduction: Intellectual Disability (ID) is often accompanied by sensory impairments such as hearing and visual deficits, which further impact functional and cognitive development. International studies highlight this burden, but there is limited data from Pakistan.
Objectives: To find out the frequency of sensory impairment (hearing and visual) in patients with intellectual disability and to assess the impact of ID severity on these impairments.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2024 to August 2024. Study participants (n=268) were enrolled from outpatient of DHQ Teaching Hospital and neuropsychiatric clinic, Haripur, Pakistan. Data was collected through structured questionnaire. Frequency and percentage for categorical while mean and standard deviation for continuous variables were calculated. Odd ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated through binary logistic regression analysis using SPSS version 24.
Results: Out of 268 patients who were suffering from intellectual disability (ID), 58.6% were males and 41.4% were females. The mean age was 18.92±12.09 years. Most of the participants (37.7%) had severe to profound ID followed by moderate ID (31.7%) and mild ID (30.6%), respectively. The frequencies of hearing (14.2%) and visual impairment (12.7%) showed a statistically significant association (p<0.05) while the severity of ID with hearing or visual impairment was not statistically significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Patients with ID usually present with comorbidities in the form of hearing and visual impairment. However, the severity of ID has no statistically significant impact on the frequency of hearing and visual impairment.
References
Black DW, Grant JE. DSM-5® Guidebook: The Essential Companion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2014. p. 32–36.
Al-Mosawi AJ. A Unique experience with mental and developmental retardation: Innovative Medical therapies for idiopathic mental retardation. EC Clin Med Case Reports. 2020;3(5):42–54.
Kupfer DJ, Regier DA, Narrow WE, Blazer DG, Schultz SK, Peele R, et al. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Schultz SK, Kuhl EA, editors. American Psychiatric Association,1000 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22209-3901: R.R. Donnelley; 2013. p. 33.
Murray CJL, Vos T, Lozano R, Naghavi M, Flaxman AD, Michaud C, et al. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012;380(9859):2197–223. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61689-4
Bishop D, Pine D, Scott S, Stevenson JS, Taylor EA, Thapar A. Rutter’s child and adolescent psychiatry. Chichester: Wiley Online Library; 2009. 719–37 p.
Harris JC. Intellectual disability: Understanding its development, causes, classification, evaluation, and treatment. Oxford University Press; 2006.
King BH, Toth KE, Hodapp RM, Dykens EM. Intellectual disability. Compr Textb psychiatry. 2009; 9:3444–74.
Patel DR, Cabral MD, Ho A, Merrick J. A clinical primer on intellectual disability. Transl Pediatr. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S23. Doi: 10.21037/tp.2019.09.09
D’Souza H, Lathan A, Karmiloff-Smith A, Mareschal D. Down syndrome and parental depression: A double hit on early expressive language development. Res Dev Disabil. 2020; 100:103613. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089142222030043310.
Asghari A, Farhadi M, Daneshi A, Khabazkhoob M, Mohazzab-Torabi S, Jalessi M, et al. The prevalence of hearing impairment by age and gender in a population-based study. Iran J Public Health. 2017; 46(9): 1237. Doi: 10.18502/ijph.v52i9.13772.
Liao P, Vajdic C, Trollor J, Reppermund S. Prevalence and incidence of physical health conditions in people with intellectual disability–a systematic review. PLoS One. 2021;16(8):e0256294. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256294
Kiani R, Bhaumik S. Visual and Hearing Impairments and their Impact on the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability. Oxford Textb Psychiatry Intellect Disabil. 2020;247.
Fellinger J, Linzner D, Holzinger D, Dall M, Fellinger M, Fogler J. Development of deaf adults with intellectual disability in a therapeutic living community. J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2020;25(3):261–9. Doi: 10.1093/deafed/enaa004
Felicia M, Voiţă-Mekereş F, Voiță IB, Mekeres GM. Neurodevelopmental Disorders Comorbid with Deafness in Children: A Review. Arch Pharm Pract. 2023;14(1):104-8. Doi: 10.51847/XGZplHLuL4.
Li JCH, Wong K, Park ASY, Fricke TR, Jackson AJ. The challenges of providing eye care for adults with intellectual disabilities. Clin Exp Optom. 2015; 98(5):420–9. Doi: 10.1111/cxo.12248
Emerson E, Robertson J. The estimated prevalence of visual impairment among people with learning disabilities in the UK. Learn Disabil Obs Rep RNIB SeeAbility. 2011. Department of Health, UK.
Carey IM, Hosking F, Harris T, De Wilde S, Beighton C, Cook DG. An evaluation of the effectiveness of annual health checks and quality of health care for adults with intellectual disability: an observational study using a primary care database. Heal Serv Deliv Res. 2017;5(25). Doi: 10.3310/hsdr05250.
Jiang F, Dong Q, Wu S, Liu X, Dayimu A, Liu Y, et al. A comprehensive evaluation on the associations between hearing and vision impairments and risk of all-cause and cause-specific dementia: results from cohort study, meta-analysis and Mendelian randomization study. BMC Med. 2024; 22(1):518. Doi: 10.1186/s12916-024-03748-7.
Gopinath B, Schneider J, McMahon CM, Burlutsky G, Leeder SR, Mitchell P. Dual sensory impairment in older adults increases the risk of mortality: a population-based study. PLoS One. 2013; 8(3) :e55054. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055054.
Elzouki AY, Harfi HA, Nazer H, Oh W, Stapleton FB, Whitley RJ. Textbook of clinical pediatrics. 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media; 2011.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Rehman Medical Institute
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
