Utilizing the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to Understand the Aging of People Living in the Community with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

摘要

There remain challenges in understanding the aging lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Method: A cross-sectional comparison of people with and without I/DD was created using China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A definition of I/DD was established, three samples were created: those with an assigned/described intellectual and developmental disability prior to age 22 years;those with similar impairments at and after age 22 years;and those in the population without an assigned/described impairment. Findings: Those with I/DD appeared to have greater health needs on initial analysis. People with an impairment similar to I/DD but occurring after age 22 years had the same or greater needs in subsequent analyses. Both groups had greater needs than those with no identified disability. Discussion: There must be greater efforts to discover those with I/DD who are already in existing datasets, greater attention to the full range of lives led by people with I/DD and inclusion of data from a broader range of countries.