Physical and mental health of young people with learning disabilities

Children and Young People | Last Updated: 17 Feb 26

Background

Transition to adulthood may be a period of vulnerability for the health for young people with learning disabilities. No large‐scale studies have compared the health of young people with and without learning disabilities undergoing transition. The aims of this study were to compare health during transition for young people with and without learning disabilities across a whole country population and to establish whether transition is associated with health in the population with learning disabilities.

What we did

Data were drawn from Scotland's Census, 2011. Frequency data were calculated for young people with and without learning disabilities. Logistic regressions were used to determine the extent to which learning disabilities account for seven health outcomes (general health, mental health, physical disabilities, hearing impairment, visual impairment, long‐term illness and day‐to‐day activity limitations), adjusted for age and gender. Within the learning disabilities population, logistic regressions were then used to determine whether age group (13-18 or 19-24 years) is associated with the seven health outcomes, adjusted for gender.

What we found

A total of 5,556/815,889 young people aged 13-24 years had learning disabilities. Those with learning disabilities were 9.6-125.0 times more likely to have poor health on the seven outcomes. Within the population with learning disabilities, the 19‐24‐year‐olds with learning disabilities were more likely to have mental health problems than the 13‐18‐year‐olds but did not have poorer health on the other outcomes. The difference between age groups for mental health problems was greater for young people who did not have learning disabilities, but their overall level of mental health problems was substantially lower than for the young people with learning disabilities.

What these findings mean

This largest‐to‐date study quantifies the extent of the substantial health disparities experienced by young people with learning disabilities compared with their peers without learning disabilities. The young population with learning disabilities has substantial health problems. Therefore, transitions between child and adult services must be carefully planned in order to ensure that existing health conditions are managed and emerging problems minimised.

Project Lead: Genevieve Southward-Young

Research Team: Ewelina Rydzewska-Fazekas, Christopher Philo, Sally-Ann Cooper

SLDO Group member(s) involved in this research

Dr Ewelina Rydzewska-Fazekas

Ewelina is an Affiliate Associate Researcher with the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory. Ewelina's work with the Observatory focused around health inequalities and the health needs of people with autism. She is now based at the University of Edinburgh School as a Lecturer in Health Futures at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and School of Health in Social Science.

Professor Anna Cooper

Anna set up the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory with funding from the Scottish Government. She wants the Observatory to make Scotland fairer and healthier for people with learning disabilities and their families, by: Finding out the health problems people have Finding out how good or bad health care is Telling people about health and health care problems Finding ways to make health and health care better Checking if health gets better or worse over time Helping the Scottish Government, and staff who provide health and social services, to get it right for people with learning disabilities Anna is a doctor. She has done a lot of studies on the health of people with learning disabilities. Anna’s full name is Professor Sally-Ann Cooper.