A STUDY OF INSTITUTIONALIZED MENTALLY RETARDED PATIENTS IN MANITOBA: OVER-REPRESENTATION BY CANADIAN INDIAN CHILDREN.

This article presents a study of institutionalized mentally retarded patients in Manitoba. During analysis of data on 406 severely and profoundly mentally retarded children and their families in Manitoba a marked excess of Canadian Indian children was observed. There was no evidence to suggest that the over-representation by native children was due to an increased propensity of Indian families to institutionalize their children nor were these patients more profoundly retarded or more physically handicapped than the non-Indian children studied. Further analysis showed that Indian children were primarily over-represented in the groups with acquired retardation, autosomal recessive genetic disorders, idiopathic retardation with seizures and idiopathic retardation with malformations or dysmorphic signs.