Background: Families with parental intellectual disabilities (ID) are likely to need support in achieving a decent family life. In order to accurately plan for such support services, society needs data regarding the occurrence of those parents and their children. The aim of this study was to investigate the 5-year incidence of children born to women with ID in a county in Sweden.
Methods: Women born between 1975 and 1989 were identified from school registers for children and adolescents with ID in the county of Blekinge. The women's personal identification numbers were, in 2010, linked and matched with the Swedish Medical Birth Register.
Results: In total, 98 women with ID were identified. Nine of these had given birth to children; one woman to two children and eight women to one child each. The 10 children were born between 2004 and 2008.
Conclusion: The incidence rate calculated as a result of the present study indicates that approximately 2.12 per 1000 children are born per year to women with ID. For the whole of Sweden that rate indicates an incidence of approximately 225 children each year. On the basis of this, the prevalence of children (aged 0-18 years) being born to women with ID is estimated at about 4050.
© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.