Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability
Background: Many children with intellectual disability live with medical comorbidities. This study examined the impacts of comorbidities on quality of life (QOL) of children with intellectual disabilities and whether impacts varied with caregiver perceptions that medical needs had been met. Meth...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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WILEY
2021
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1103745 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86906 |
| _version_ | 1848764882465325056 |
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| author | Reddihough, D. Leonard, H. Jacoby, P. Kim, R. Epstein, A. Murphy, N. Reid, S. Whitehouse, A. Williams, K. Downs, Jennepher |
| author_facet | Reddihough, D. Leonard, H. Jacoby, P. Kim, R. Epstein, A. Murphy, N. Reid, S. Whitehouse, A. Williams, K. Downs, Jennepher |
| author_sort | Reddihough, D. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Many children with intellectual disability live with medical comorbidities. This study examined the impacts of comorbidities on quality of life (QOL) of children with intellectual disabilities and whether impacts varied with caregiver perceptions that medical needs had been met.
Methods: Primary caregivers of 447 children (aged 5–19 years) with an intellectual disability reported on their child's medical comorbidities and the extent to which they perceived their child's medical needs had been met in a cross-sectional observational study. The Quality of Life Inventory-Disability was used to measure QOL on a 100-point scale. Linear regression models including interaction terms were used to evaluate their associations.
Results: Parent-reported recurrent child pain (−4.97, 95% CI −8.21, −1.72), night-time sleep disturbances (−4.98, 95% CI −7.23, −2.73), daytime somnolence (−8.71, 95% CI −11.30, −2.73), seizures that occurred at least weekly (−7.59, 95% CI −13.50, −1.68) and conservatively managed severe scoliosis (−7.39, 95% CI −12.97, −1.81) were negatively associated with child QOL. Despite the majority of parents (~70%) perceiving that their child's medical needs had been met to a great extent, this did not significantly moderate the association between any comorbidities and QOL.
Conclusions: Comorbidities were common and had marked associations with QOL. Evaluation and management of pain and sleep disturbance continue to be high priorities in improving QOL of young people with intellectual disabilities. Further research on the optimal methods of managing these comorbidities is warranted. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-86906 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | WILEY |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-869062022-05-05T01:56:11Z Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability Reddihough, D. Leonard, H. Jacoby, P. Kim, R. Epstein, A. Murphy, N. Reid, S. Whitehouse, A. Williams, K. Downs, Jennepher Social Sciences Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Psychology, Developmental Pediatrics Psychology adolescents children comorbidity intellectual disability quality of life SLEEP DISTURBANCE SCALE CEREBRAL-PALSY AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN ADOLESCENTS MANAGEMENT DISORDERS RELIABILITY IMPAIRMENT PREVALENCE EPILEPSY Background: Many children with intellectual disability live with medical comorbidities. This study examined the impacts of comorbidities on quality of life (QOL) of children with intellectual disabilities and whether impacts varied with caregiver perceptions that medical needs had been met. Methods: Primary caregivers of 447 children (aged 5–19 years) with an intellectual disability reported on their child's medical comorbidities and the extent to which they perceived their child's medical needs had been met in a cross-sectional observational study. The Quality of Life Inventory-Disability was used to measure QOL on a 100-point scale. Linear regression models including interaction terms were used to evaluate their associations. Results: Parent-reported recurrent child pain (−4.97, 95% CI −8.21, −1.72), night-time sleep disturbances (−4.98, 95% CI −7.23, −2.73), daytime somnolence (−8.71, 95% CI −11.30, −2.73), seizures that occurred at least weekly (−7.59, 95% CI −13.50, −1.68) and conservatively managed severe scoliosis (−7.39, 95% CI −12.97, −1.81) were negatively associated with child QOL. Despite the majority of parents (~70%) perceiving that their child's medical needs had been met to a great extent, this did not significantly moderate the association between any comorbidities and QOL. Conclusions: Comorbidities were common and had marked associations with QOL. Evaluation and management of pain and sleep disturbance continue to be high priorities in improving QOL of young people with intellectual disabilities. Further research on the optimal methods of managing these comorbidities is warranted. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86906 10.1111/cch.12873 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1103745 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1077966 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1117105 WILEY fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Psychology, Developmental Pediatrics Psychology adolescents children comorbidity intellectual disability quality of life SLEEP DISTURBANCE SCALE CEREBRAL-PALSY AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN ADOLESCENTS MANAGEMENT DISORDERS RELIABILITY IMPAIRMENT PREVALENCE EPILEPSY Reddihough, D. Leonard, H. Jacoby, P. Kim, R. Epstein, A. Murphy, N. Reid, S. Whitehouse, A. Williams, K. Downs, Jennepher Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title | Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title_full | Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title_fullStr | Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title_short | Comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| title_sort | comorbidities and quality of life in children with intellectual disability |
| topic | Social Sciences Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Psychology, Developmental Pediatrics Psychology adolescents children comorbidity intellectual disability quality of life SLEEP DISTURBANCE SCALE CEREBRAL-PALSY AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN ADOLESCENTS MANAGEMENT DISORDERS RELIABILITY IMPAIRMENT PREVALENCE EPILEPSY |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1103745 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1103745 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1103745 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/86906 |