Background: Families with parental intellectual disabilities are likely to need support in achieving a decent family life. In order to accurately plan for such support services, society needs data regarding the occurrence of those parents and their children. The aim of this study was to investigate the five-year incidence of children born to women with intellectual disabilities in a county in Sweden. Methods: Women born between 1975 and 1989 were identified from school registers for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities in the county of Blekinge. The women’s personal identification numbers were, in 2010, linked and matched with the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Results: In total, 98 women with intellectual disabilities were identified. Nine of these had given birth to children; one woman to two children and eight women to one child each. The ten children were born between 2004 and 2008. Conclusion: The incidence rate calculated as a result of the present study indicates that approximately 2.12 per thousand children are born per year to women with intellectual disabilities. For the whole of Sweden that rate indicates an incidence of approximately 225 children each year. On the basis of this, the prevalence of children (aged 0-18 years) being born to women with intellectual disabilities is estimated at about 4,050.

Incidensen som kalkylerades i denna studie indikerar att ca 2,12 barn per tusen födda barn föds av kvinnor med intellektuella funktionshinder. För Sverige som helhet indikerar detta en incidens av ca 225 barn som årligen föds av kvinnor med intellektuella funktionshinder. På basis av detta kan en prevalens av barn (0-18 år) födda av kvinnor med intellektuella funktionshinder uppskattas till ca 4 050. Sökord: Funktionshinder, familjer, mödrar med intellektuella funktionshinder, föräldraskap, prevalens.