Age distribution at death of mentally handicapped in-patients.

Many severely mentally handicapped people have a life expectancy less than the normal. Cases of Down's syndrome, for example, aged over 60 are rare. Long-stay hospitals for mental handicap contain a relatively small proportion of residents aged 60 and over. In a hospital for mental handicap, therefore, the age at death should have a wide distribution. At Meanwood Park Hospital, Leeds, a typical hospital for mental handicap, the age distribution of all deaths over the 19 years from 1960 to 1978 is shown in the Table (below). The distribution of the ages at death shows a diphasic pattern. There is a peak in the 10 to 29 period, a fall in the 30 to 39 age group, rising to a higher peak in the 40 to 69 range. One hundred and sixty-five (55.57 per cent), that is over half of the total deaths, occurred before the age of 50; 132 (44.43 per cent) occurred after age 50. Over one in five of the total deaths, 63 (2 1.21 per cent), occurred in the first 20 years of life. Over one quarter of the total, 85 (28.61 per cent), were in patients aged 60 and over. Less than one in ten of the deaths, 29 (9.76 per cent), were residents aged over 70. It is concluded that in the hospital for mental handicap a considerable proportion of the patients die in the early decades of life so that there are relatively fewer survivors into the later decades. Those patients who die early tend to be the most severely mentally handicapped,who sufferfrom specific syndromes associated with mental handicap, have brain damage, epilepsy and motor dysfunction. In contrast to these patients those dying in the later years are generally of higher intelligence, show mental retardation of less specific origin and are often physically and mentally well preserved.