The impact of Covid-19 on people with learning disabilities in Scotland

Covid-19 | Last Updated: 11 Feb 26

Background

In 2020, information on the impact of COVID-19 on people with learning disabilities was not routinely reported in Scotland. Due to the high rate of health inequalities, there was understandable concern that people with learning disabilities were at high risk of death from COVID-19. This study was set up to look at COVID-19 infection and severe outcomes, mortality, excess deaths and case-fatality for people with learning disabilities compared to those with no learning disabilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland (24^th January to 15^th August 2020).

What we did

We linked the Census 2011 records with death registrations, hospital records and COVID-19 testing data to investigate infection rates and outcomes of hospitalisation and/or death.

Records for 17,203 people with learning disabilities and 188,634 with no learning disabilities were analysed.

What we found

COVID-19 mortality

People in the learning disabilities population were over three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in the general population.

COVID-19 infections

People with learning disabilities were twice as likely as those in the general population to become infected with COVID-19.
People with learning/intellectual disabilities were also twice as likely to experience a severe outcome from COVID-19 infection, resulting in hospitalisation and/or death.

Excess deaths
We also looked at deaths from all causes (not just COVID-19) for the same period, 5 years before the pandemic. We compared these to the number of deaths during the first wave of the pandemic.

There was a 23% increase in the crude rate of deaths from all causes in adults with learning disabilities compared to a 21% increase in adults who do not have learning disabilities.
There was a very slight increase in the all-cause Standardised Mortality Ratios for people with learning disabilities in 2020.

What these findings mean

People with learning disabilities already experienced significantly worse health outcomes and excess mortality compared to the general population. These inequalities are reflected in the higher COVID infection rates, more severe outcomes and increased mortality experienced by adults with learning disabilities in the first wave of the pandemic. Further action needs to be taken to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection for all adults with learning disabilities.
Evidence provided from this study directly contributed to the reprioritisation of people with learning disabilities in the roll out of vaccinations in 2021.

View the published article, an easy read summary and the impact case study related to this work at the links below.

Team member(s) involved in this research

Professor Craig Melville

Craig is a Professor of Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. His work focuses on using evidence from research to inform the development of interventions and policy to improve the health of people with neurodevelopmental conditions. Craig has worked on clinical trials of complex interventions, such as psychological therapies, weight management and health checks in primary care. Evidence from epidemiological research has been central to the development of these clinical trials and his work with SLDO centres on how to use Scotland’s national datasets to understand and tackle the health inequalities experienced by people with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Professor Deborah Cairns

Deborah is the Director of the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory and Professor of Health and Neurodevelopmental Conditions, in the School of Health and Wellbeing, at the University of Glasgow. Deborah is passionate about her research which aims to improve the health of people with learning disabilities and their families. She has worked on many different projects about people with learning disabilities including: cancer incidence, cancer screening, multi-morbidity (having two or more health conditions), oral health and COVID-19, to name a few. She has also worked on projects about the physical and mental health of family members who support someone with a learning disability. Deborah is committed to conducting research that has impact and works closely with self-advocates with learning disabilities, family carers and third sector organisations who are pivotal in all of her work and who have a shared vision of ensuring the human rights of all people with learning disabilities are recognised, supported and upheld. Read more about Deborah here.

Angela Henderson

Angela was formerly the Director for Policy and Impact for the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory and remains an affiliate team member, having moved in 2024 to work with the Scottish Government leading the development of annual health checks and learning disabilities data. Angela is interested in how evidence is used in policy making and was involved in many projects at the Observatory. These included: Understanding the impact of Covid-19 on people with learning disabilities The Research Voices Project Helping to set up the SPIRE learning disabilities data project Analysing information about drug prescribing for people with learning disabilities