COVID-19 Was Leading Killer Of People With Developmental Disabilities

A “prone team,” wearing personal protective equipment, prepares to turn a COVID-19 patient onto his stomach in a hospital intensive care unit in Stamford, Conn. (John Moore/Getty Images/TNS)

by Shaun Heasley | September 26, 2022 – disabilityscoop.com

New research finds that people with developmental disabilities were much more likely to die from COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic than others.

A review of death certificates nationwide for 2020 shows that COVID-19 was the top cause of death among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

By comparison, the virus was the third leading cause of death following heart disease and cancer for those without such disabilities.

“Even when we adjusted for age, sex and racial-ethnic minority status, we found that COVID-19 was far deadlier for those with IDD than those without,” said Scott Landes, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University and lead author of the study published this month in the Disability and Health Journal. “Furthermore, people with IDD were dying at much younger ages.”

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