The prevalence of chronic diseases in children with an intellectual disability (ID) and the impact on their psychosocial functioning

Summary:

The past decades an increase in the knowledge of chronic diseases in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) is shown. In a considerable amount of studies, ID in children is associated with a wide range of chronic diseases. Most of the studies show that children with ID are at higher risk for mental and somatic chronic diseases compared to their healthy peers. A major difficult in studies on this subject is that many different approaches have been used to measure the prevalence of chronic disease in children with ID resulting in a wide variability of prevalence rates. As a result, the accuracy of certain prevalence rates is unclear and has to be disputed. Valid prevalence rates of chronic diseases in children with ID are of importance from both the perspective of the child and the family and the perspective of professionals and policy makers. The presence of a chronic disease besides an intellectual disability aggravates the burden in daily life of both the child and the family. Special care arrangements (e.g. health, education, work) are needed to enhance the well being and societal participation of the child and the family. Policy makers and professionals need valid prevalence rates for planning and financing adequate care arrangements and to mange the chronic disease and the burden for the child and the family respectively. The aim of this PhD thesis is:

• to provide a systematic overview of the prevalence rates of chronic diseases in children with ID
• to explore the prevalence of chronic diseases in children (adolescence) with ID in the Netherlands
• to explore the impact of a chronic disease on the psychosocial functioning of children (adolescence) with ID.