Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Assessment and diagnosis
- Part II Psychopathology and special topics
- 6 The psychopathology of children with intellectual disabilities
- 7 Depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders in people with intellectual disabilities
- 8 Schizophrenia spectrum disorders in people with intellectual disabilities
- 9 Personality disorder
- 10 Dementia and mental ill-health in older people with intellectual disabilities
- 11 People with intellectual disabilities who are at risk of offending
- 12 Behavioural phenotypes: growing understandings of psychiatric disorders in individuals with intellectual disabilities
- 13 Mental health problems in people with autism and related disorders
- 14 Self-injurious behaviour
- 15 Mental health and epilepsy among adults with intellectual disabilities
- 16 Neuroimaging and intellectual disabilities
- Part III Treatment and therapeutic interventions
- Part IV Policy and service systems
- Index
- References
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
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Assessment and diagnosis
- Part II Psychopathology and special topics
- 6 The psychopathology of children with intellectual disabilities
- 7 Depression, anxiety and adjustment disorders in people with intellectual disabilities
- 8 Schizophrenia spectrum disorders in people with intellectual disabilities
- 9 Personality disorder
- 10 Dementia and mental ill-health in older people with intellectual disabilities
- 11 People with intellectual disabilities who are at risk of offending
- 12 Behavioural phenotypes: growing understandings of psychiatric disorders in individuals with intellectual disabilities
- 13 Mental health problems in people with autism and related disorders
- 14 Self-injurious behaviour
- 15 Mental health and epilepsy among adults with intellectual disabilities
- 16 Neuroimaging and intellectual disabilities
- Part III Treatment and therapeutic interventions
- Part IV Policy and service systems
- Index
- References
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.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Psychiatric and Behavioural Disorders in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities , pp. 238 - 251Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
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