Background: Little is known about the health needs of people with intellectual disabilities who access out-of-hours primary care services, raising concerns about accessibility and quality of care for this group. This study aims to identify commonly presented health problems of people with intellectual disabilities in this specific setting compared with the general population.
Method: Cross-sectional study with routine data at two out-of-hours cooperatives with a total of 41,166 persons aged 20-65 requesting outof-hours primary care in 2014, of which 315 persons were identified as having an intellectual disability.
Results: Having an intellectual disability was associated with a higher probability of presenting with epilepsy (OR 45.65) and concerns about, and adverse effects of, medical treatment (OR 23.37, and 8.41, respectively).
Conclusions: Given the high rates of epilepsy and medication-related concerns of people with intellectual disabilities, this study suggests that these issues require special attention to improve the accessibility and quality of out-of-hours primary care.
Keywords: after-hours care; electronic health records; general practice; health service utilization; intellectual disability; medical conditions; primary health care.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.