The SLDO has published two new studies looking at causes and rates of premature mortality amongst people with learning disabilities.

Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory logoKey findings from this research include:

  • Death in childhood 12 times higher for people with learning disabilities
  • Girls and young women with learning disabilities are at higher risk than males
  • Adults with learning disabilities are twice as likely to die from preventable illness

Common causes of death include preventable respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and treatable conditions such as epilepsy

This is part of a developing body of research around life expectancy and mortality for people with learning disabilities. You can find further information about this work, together with summaries, briefings and easy read format, at the SLDO website.

If you have any questions or would like to know more, you can contact us at sldo-info@glasgow.ac.uk  

First published: 14 March 2018

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