Frequency of sensory impairment in patients with intellectual disability: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: Intellectual Disability (ID) is often accompanied by sensory impairments such as hearing and visual deficits, which further impact functional and cognitive development. International studies highlight this burden, but there is limited data from Pakistan. Objectives: To find out the frequency of sensory impairment (hearing and visual) in patients with intellectual disability and to assess the impact of ID severity on these impairments. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2024 to August 2024. Study participants (n=268) were enrolled from outpatient of DHQ Teaching Hospital and neuropsychiatric clinic, Haripur, Pakistan. Data was collected through structured questionnaire. Frequency and percentage for categorical while mean and standard deviation for continuous variables were calculated. Odd ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated through binary logistic regression analysis using SPSS version 24. Results: Out of 268 patients who were suffering from intellectual disability (ID), 58.6% were males and 41.4% were females. The mean age was 18.92±12.09 years. Most of the participants (37.7%) had severe to profound ID followed by moderate ID (31.7%) and mild ID (30.6%), respectively. The frequencies of hearing (14.2%) and visual impairment (12.7%) showed a statistically significant association (p<0.05) while the severity of ID with hearing or visual impairment was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusion: Patients with ID usually present with comorbidities in the form of hearing and visual impairment. However, the severity of ID has no statistically significant impact on the frequency of hearing and visual impairment.