Length of Life: A Ten Year Retrospective Study of 209 Clients Who Died in Minnesota's State Facilities for Persons with Developmental Disabilities in the 1980s

A retrospective study was conducted to determine characteristics associated with different lifespans for Minnesota's institutionalized clients with developmental disabilities. The individual client records of 209 persons who died between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989 were reviewed. The data revealed that clients with cerebral palsy and seizure disorders lived significantly shorter lives than those clients who did not have these disabilities. Clients with severe/profound mental retardation lived significantly shorter lives than those clients diagnosed with moderate/mild retardation. Gender differences in mean lengths of life were also significant: females lived significantly longer than males. Significant differences were not found between clients with sensory impairments and those without sensory deficits. In general, the younger the clients' ages at admission to the state facilities, the shorter the individuals' lifespan. These data are compared to previous findings on life expectancy.