The Devastating Impact of Covid-19 on Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in the United States

A cross-sectional study of 64,858,460 patients across 547 health care organizations reveals that having an intellectual disability was the strongest independent risk factor for presenting with a Covid-19 diagnosis and the strongest independent risk factor other than age for Covid-19 mortality. Screening for Covid-19, care coordination, and vaccination efforts should be intense within this population that is less able to consistently use masks and socially distance.

Individuals with intellectual disabilities have poor health outcomes.^1,2 Life expectancy for this population and...