REPORTED BIOMEDICAL CAUSES AND ASSOCIATED MEDICAL CONDITIONS FOR MENTAL-RETARDATION AMONG 10-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN, METROPOLITAN ATLANTA, 1985 TO 1987

This report describes biomedical causes of mental retardation(MR) amon g school-age children and associated medical conditions in children fo r whom no cause was reported. This study involved 715, 10-year-old chi ldren with MR (intelligence quotient [IQ] 70 or less) born between 197 5 and 1977. We determined biomedical causes of MR using a hierarchical approach based on the timing of the event (i.e. prenatal, perinatal, or postneonatal). Among children with no identified biomedical cause t he occurrence of associated medical conditions was examined, No report ed biomedical cause could be found in 78% of children with MR (87% mil d, IQ 50 to 70; 57% severe, IQ < 50). Prenatal causes were present in 12%, perinatal causes in 6%, and postneonatal causes in 4%. On the bas is of these findings it was concluded that intensive use of public hea lth prevention strategies can reduce the number of children who receiv e a diagnosis of MR.