Awareness on Cancer in Persons With Intellectual Disabilities

Context People with intellectual disability (PWIDs), nearly 1,300,000 adults and children in France, develop as many cancers as persons in the general population. However, their tumors are different by their particular organ distribution, the age of onset, the biological background (2,000 genetic conditions are associated with an intellectual disability) and above all the unusual clinical presentation. These cancers are not well known from physicians, carers and families, and often discovered late. A recent review of the literature shows many inequalities in the prevention, monitoring, screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in these patients. Currently, no population study on clinical features and stage at diagnosis of cancer in PWIDs is available. No interventional research study has been conducted on this subject. Hypothesis Investigators hypothesize that inequalities in cancer care of PWIDs do not result from a direct link between intellectual disability and cancer, but are related to diagnosis difficulties of these tumors which are not well known, and to difficulties of communication with these patients who do not express easily their symptoms, particularly pain.