Clinical Study The Coexistence of Psychiatric Disorders and Intellectual Disability in Children Aged 3–18 Years in the Barwani District, India

Copyright © 2013 Ram Lakhan.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. The coexistence of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability (ID) is common. This study determined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in childrenwith ID in Barwani, India.Method. A total of 262 childrenwith IDwere evaluated for psychiatric disorders using the diagnostic criteria outlined in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Results. Psychiatric disorders appeared in study participants at the following rates: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 6.5%; autism, 4.2%; anxiety, 2.7%; bipolar disorder, 1.1%; delusional disorder, 0.8%; depression, 2.3%; obsessive-compulsive disorder, 0.8%; schizophrenia, 1.9%; enuresis, 10.3%; epilepsy, 23.7%; and behavioral problems, 80.9%.The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was statistically higher in severely intellectually disabled children (IQ ≤ 49) than mildly intellectually disabled children (IQ ≥ 50). Conclusions. There is a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children with ID when their IQ ≤ 49 compared with ID children whose IQ ≥ 50. 1