A population-based health survey of maladaptive behaviours associated with dementia in elderly people with learning disabilities

Maladaptive behaviours are known to present as a feature of dementia amongst people from the general population, but there has been little research to examine whether this has implications for people with learning disabilities who develop dementia. Out of 143 people with learning disabilities aged 65 years and over living in Leicestershire, England, 134 (93.7%) participated in the study. Twenty-nine people diagnosed as having dementia were compared against 99 people without dementia; six people with possible dementia were excluded from the analysis. Comparisons were made on the results of a checklist of maladaptive behaviours. Seventeen out of the 22 maladaptive behaviours examined were found to be more prevalent amongst the people with dementia. The behaviours which were significantly more prevalent in the group with dementia included lack of energy, lack of sense of danger, sleep disturbance, agitation, incontinence, excessively uncooperative, mealtime/feeding problem, irritability and aggression. Dementia is becoming more prevalent amongst people with learning disabilities because of their increasing life span. Maladaptive behaviours are commonly associated with dementia. This can cause a significant burden for individuals and their carers, which may influence the viability of a person's residential placement.