Research suggests that children and young people with intellectual disabilities experience higher levels of mental ill-health than those without intellectual disabilities. However, existing research in this field has often used unreliable measures of intellectual disabilities and/or mental health conditions. Older data have also been used but these studies are unlikely to reflect current levels of mental health conditions in the UK. There is very little research on the rate of mental health conditions over time for children and young people with intellectual disabilities. It is important to gain a clearer picture of the proportion of children and young people with specific mental health conditions in England, and the rate of mental health conditions over time, for this population in order to target resources effectively. In this study, we will describe the proportion of children and young people (aged 0–24 years) with and without intellectual disabilities who have mental health conditions. We will also describe the proportion with mental health conditions who receive psychotropic prescriptions, as well as referrals from GP to child, adolescent or adult psychiatry; psychotherapy; clinical psychology; or the community psychiatric nurse, and admission to psychiatric services in England.
Children and young people with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience mental ill-health than the general population. However, prevalence rates vary and a number of issues remain with studies in the existing literature, such as diagnostic criteria used. The above studies also rely on data collected from between 1999 and 2011, so they do not give a picture of current prevalence rates or patterns of service use in the UK. Studies which have reported patterns of mental health conditions do not report prevalence of specific mental health conditions, or proportion with mental health conditions who receive psychotropic prescriptions or referrals/admissions to psychiatric services. It is important to gain a clearer picture of specific mental health condition prevalence, as well as prescription and psychiatric service use, for this population in order to target resources effectively.
In this study, we will use data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD and Aurum to describe the prevalence and incidence of specific mental health conditions in children and young people, between the study dates of 1 January 2004 and 31st August 2020. CPRD will be linked to the Mental Health Dataset, Practice Level Rural-Urban and Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation. We will also describe prevalence and incidence of psychotropic prescriptions, referrals to a child, adolescent or adult psychiatry; psychotherapy; clinical psychology; community psychiatric nurse (0–24 years), and psychiatric admissions among children and young people (18–24 years) with and without intellectual disabilities who have mental health conditions in the UK. Patients will be followed from the point of diagnosis of intellectual disabilities up to age 24 years. Lifetime period prevalence post-diagnosis of intellectual disabilities will be calculated for specific mental health conditions (e.g. depression). Cox proportional hazard modelling for mental health conditions will be undertaken, adjusting for gender, age, and deprivation.
Lifetime period prevalence and incidence of mental health conditions (age post-diagnosis of ID-24); Prevalence and incidence of psychotropic medication prescribing (age 0-24) for patients with mental health conditions; Prevalence and incidence of referrals to a child, adolescent or adult psychiatry, psychotherapy, clinical psychology, or the community psychiatric nurse (age 0-24) for patients with and without mental health conditions; Prevalence and incidence of admission to psychiatric services for young people (age 18-24) for patients with and without mental health conditions
Kirsty Dunn - Chief Investigator - University of Glasgow
Kirsty Dunn - Corresponding Applicant - University of Glasgow
Craig Meville - Collaborator - University of Glasgow
Douglas McConachie - Collaborator - NHS Scotland
Elliot Millington - Collaborator - University of Glasgow
Ewelina Rydzewska - Collaborator - University of Glasgow
Maria Truesdale - Collaborator - University of Glasgow
Michael Fleming - Collaborator - University of Glasgow
Richard Hastings - Collaborator - University of Warwick
2011 Rural-Urban Classification at LSOA level;Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS);Patient Level Index of Multiple Deprivation