[Mortality patterns of non-institutionalized severely retarded children in Tokyo].

Mortality patterns of severely retarded children who were cared at their homes in Tokyo were investigated. We identified sixty-seven physically handicapped children who died in 1988 and 1989 at 15 schools for such children. 42 children out of 67 were severely retarded (children who neither walk nor have IQs over 35). Annual case-fatality rate of severely retarded children was 2.5%. Respiratory tract infections accounted for 38% of the causes of severely retarded children and other respiratory tract diseases such as aspiration and complications of tracheotomy accounted for 29%.