Chronic disease management in patients with intellectual disabilities: a matched study in Dutch general practice

Disease management programmes (DMPs) aim to deliver standardised, high- quality care to patients with chronic diseases. Although chronic diseases are common among people with intellectual disabilities (ID), this approach may be suboptimal for meeting their care needs.

To examine differences between patients with and without ID who have a chronic illness in DMP enrolment and disease monitoring in Dutch general practice.

Observational study utilising the Nivel Primary Care Database (2015-2018) comparing patients with ID and cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with matched (1:5) controls with these conditions but without ID.

Using conditional logistic regression, enrolment in DMP per chronic disease was examined and differences tested between groups in the frequencies of consultations, medication prescriptions, and routine examinations.

A total of 2653 patients with chronic illness with ID were matched with 13 265 controls without ID. Patients with both diabetes mellitus and ID were more likely than controls to be enrolled in DMP (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.27 to 1.64). Independent of DMP enrolment, patients with chronic illness with ID were more likely than controls to have frequent consultations. Patients with both diabetes mellitus and ID and patients with both COPD and ID who were not enrolled in DMPs had more medication prescriptions than non-enrolled patients with diabetes or COPD but without ID (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.10 to 1.95; OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 0.99 to 1.66, respectively). Most patients with ID and their controls enrolled in DMPs received routine examinations at similar frequencies.

Although DMPs do not specifically address the needs of patients with both chronic illness and ID, these patients do not seem underserved in the management of chronic diseases in terms of consultation, medication, and tests.