Is mental health status affected by chronic diseases in older people with intellectual disability?

Background: Authors explore the impact of certain chronic diseases/disorders which are linked with poor mental health amongst older people with intellectual disability (PwID). Method: Cross-sectional face-to-face survey of 392 adults aged > 60 years living in community settings in urban and rural regions of Australia. Mental health composite score (MCS) was derived from MoS-SF12, a QoL instrument with high internal and external validity. Results: Mean age was 65.2 years (SD 4.4); males = 62.7%. MCS values were close to population norm (X = 50.4, SD 9.9) but showed a wide range (18.1-70.8) indicating very poor mental health for some study respondents. MSC values did not differ significantly between urban and rural residents. Prevalence of chronic diseases/disorders was: arthritis (40.4%), diabetes (25.6%), asthma (16.1%), coronary disease (14.8%), chronic pain (26.9%), sleep disturbance (22.3%), and falls (29.2%). MCS values were significantly lower for chronic pain, sleep, and falls; whereas, mean MCS was lower for coronary disease and hearing loss, but not statistically significant. Respondents with multiple co-morbidity had lower MCS. Conclusion: Primary care management of chronic diseases/disorders for older PwID is important. The clustering of certain chronic conditions calls for health promotion strategies to improve mental health of older PwID.