Predictors and outcomes of recognition of intellectual disability for adults during hospital admissions: A retrospective data linkage study in NSW, Australia

Adults with intellectual disability have high health care needs. Despite frequent contact with health services, they often receive inadequate health care. One method to improve health care delivery is reasonable adjustments, that is, the adaptation of health care delivery such that barriers to participation are removed for the person with disability. A starting point for the provision of reasonable adjustments is recognition of intellectual disability during the health care contact. To determine rates and predictors of the recognition of intellectual disability during hospital admissions, and its impact on admission metrics, we examined a population of adults with intellectual disability identified from disability services datasets from New South Wales, Australia between 2005 and 2014. Recognition of intellectual disability was determined by the recording of an International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) diagnostic code for intellectual disability during a given hospital admission. We examined how recognition of intellectual disability related to length of hospital episodes. We found an overall low rate of recognition of intellectual disability (23.79%) across all hospital episodes, with the proportion of hospital episodes recognising intellectual disability decreasing from 2005–2015. Admissions for adults with complex health profiles (e.g., those with many comorbidities, those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and those admitted for urgent treatment) were more likely to recognise intellectual disability, but admissions for adults with complexity in other domains (i.e., for those in custody, or those with drug and alcohol disorders) were less likely to recognise intellectual disability. Recognition of intellectual disability was associated with longer episodes of care, possibly indicating the greater provision of reasonable adjustments. To improve the recognition of intellectual disability for adults during health service contacts, we advocate for the implementation of targeted initiatives (such as a nationwide disability flag to be included in health service records) to improve the provision of reasonable adjustments.