Health issues and quality of life in women with intellectual disability

Although there is anecdotal evidence of an increase in both period pain and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) in women with intellectual disabilities (ID), there are only brief mentions of it in the literature.

Questionnaires were distributed to parents of women with Down syndrome (DS) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), resulting in 24 respondents from Australia and New Zealand. The purpose of the study was to ascertain how period pain and PMS presents in women with ID.

Results were analyzed by disability group, and communication ability. Women with DS were more often able to state that they had pain, or point to the location of the pain than women with either autism or Asperger Syndrome (AS). Additionally, women with DS or ASD appeared to have a higher rate of period pain than women in the general population, but the presence of pain more often had to be deduced from behavioural changes.

Further research with a larger number of women with disability, and across a wider range of disabilities is required to determine generalizability of these findings.