The NHS published an interactive report in April 2017 on the potential differences in the treatment, health status, and outcomes of people with learning disabilities.
This report collected information on people with and without learning disabilities from over half of GP practices in England in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
The report found that:
- On average, females with learning disabilities had around an 18 year shorter life expectancy than the general population, and males had around a 14 year shorter life expectancy than the general population
- The percentage of patients known to their GP as having a learning disability who received an annual learning disability health check increased to 46 per cent from 43 per cent in 2014-15
- Obesity is twice as common in people aged 18-35 with learning disabilities, being underweight is twice as common in people aged over 64 with learning disabilities, compared with patients with no learning disabilities
- 3 in 4 eligible patients with a learning disability received colorectal cancer screening, an increase from just over 2 in 3 in 2014-15
Read the summary report (pdf) or easy read version (pdf).