Meta-Analysis
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World J Clin Pediatr. Mar 9, 2022; 11(2): 206-214
Published online Mar 9, 2022. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v11.i2.206
Prevalence of intellectual disability in India: A meta-analysis
Paul Swamidhas Sudhakar Russell, Sahana Nagaraj, Ashvini Vengadavaradan, Sushila Russell, Priya Mary Mammen, Satya Raj Shankar, Shonima Aynipully Viswanathan, Richa Earnest, Swetha Madhuri Chikkala, Grace Rebekah
Paul Swamidhas Sudhakar Russell, Sahana Nagaraj, Ashvini Vengadavaradan, Sushila Russell, Priya Mary Mammen, Satya Raj Shankar, Shonima Aynipully Viswanathan, Swetha Madhuri Chikkala, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632 002, Tamil Nadu, India
Richa Earnest, Department of Psychiatry, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632 002, Tamil Nadu, India
Grace Rebekah, Department of Biostatistic, Christian Medical College, Vellore 632 002, Tamil Nadu, India
Author contributions: Russell PSS conceived and designed the study; Chikkala SM and Earnest R performed the literature search and collected data; Russell S and Shankar SR extracted data; Nagaraj S and Vengadavaradan A appraised the quality of studies; Mammen PM resolved the conflicts in data extraction and quality appraisal; Russell PSS, Viswanathan SA and Rebekah G carried out the statistical analyses; and all authors contributed to the writing and approval of the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Paul Swamidhas Sudhakar Russell, DNB, MBBS, MD, Full Professor, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Christian Medical College, Bagayam, Vellore 632 002, Tamil Nadu, India. russell@cmcvellore.ac.in
Received: March 21, 2021
Peer-review started: March 21, 2021
First decision: May 6, 2021
Revised: May 18, 2021
Accepted: February 11, 2022
Article in press: February 11, 2022
Published online: March 9, 2022
Processing time: 352 Days and 20.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Intellectual disability (ID) is prevalent in India and earlier epidemiological studies on mental disorders have documented the lifetime prevalence of ID. However, the documented prevalence of ID in the country shows a wide range. The burden posed by ID is only third to the depressive disorders and anxiety disorders among mental disorders. The burden of ID in India significantly contributes to the global burden of ID; to decrease this we need to think globally and act locally in an evidence-based manner. To date, the prevalence of ID in India has been shown in narrative reviews. This suggests that the summary prevalence of ID in India has to be ascertained to help improve the existing disability and mental health policies, national programs and service delivery. This meta-analysis established that the summary lifetime prevalence of ID in India is 2%.