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What Are We Hiding? Preventable Causes Of Death Are Not Accurately Counted For Adults With Intellectual Disability, Scott D. Landes

Population Health Research Brief Series

This research brief reports on findings from a recent research on errors in cause of death reporting on death certificates for individuals with disabilities. Analyzing the death certificates of over 30,000 adults with developmental disabilities who died between 2012 and 2016, Landes and his collaborators found that nearly half of death certificates identify a developmental disability itself as the direct cause of death for individuals with disabilities.