Stability and change in health, functional abilities, and behavior problems among adults with and without Down syndrome

Changes in health, functional abilities, and behavior problems among 150 adults with Down syndrome and 240 adults with mental retardation due to other causes were examined with seven assessments over a 9-year period. Adults were primarily younger than 40, the age at which declines begin to be evident in individuals with Down syndrome. Adults with Down syndrome were advantaged in their functional abilities and lack of behavior prob-lems, comparable in health, and exhibited comparable rates of change on these measures as adults with mental retardation due to other causes. Placement out of the parental home and parental death were predictors of change in health, functional abilities, and behavior problems. The past 50 years have been a time of re-markable change for individuals with Down syn-drome, as medical breakthroughs and improve-ments in services have extended their life expec-tancy dramatically (Bittles & Glasson, 2004; Ey-man & Borthwick-Duffy, 1994; Glasson et al., 2002). Significant research attention has been fo-cused on the health and longevity of adults with Down syndrome in the modern era of antibiotics, easier access to health care and life-saving surger-ies, and community rather than institutional res