Grant: Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program

Adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities are more likely to have cancer that has spread to other parts of their body, and to die from cancer compared to adults without disabilities. These differences often happen in cancers that can be found earlier by screening, like breast and colorectal cancer. Studies done 10 years ago found that Ontarian adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities are less likely to get screened for breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer than adults without disabilities, which led to primary care guidelines for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities being updated to include cancer screening specifically in 2018. We need to find out if there have been changes in screening since that time for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and the effect of the primary guidelines on cancer screening. We will compare cancer screening among adults with and without intellectual or developmental from 2015 to 2024 and evaluate the effect of Primary care guidelines on cancer screening. We will do three separate studies to see the differences between adults without and without intellectual or developmental disabilities in receiving screening for cancer: 1) breast: mammography, 2) colorectal: fecal occult blood test, fecal immunochemical test, and colonoscopies, and 3) cervical: pap tests. The group of people in each study will include those who are eligible for the screenings based on their age. We will consider how often adults with and without intellectual or developmental disabilities are getting these types of screening, and if they are up-to-date with these screenings. We will also compare screening before and after the primary care guidelines were published. This research will provide us with up-to-date information on cancer screening differences for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, which could help with advocating for change in the accessibility of cancer screening.