Background: People with intellectual disability experience poor health outcomes and die at an earlier age than the general population. In recent years, people with intellectual disability have been diagnosed more frequently with cancer. Still, evidence suggests they are less likely to receive treatment and they are more likely to die from cancer than the general population. While there are well-established risks and associations in the general literature linking the correlation between environmental and lifestyle factors and cancer development, limited research regarding these risk factors has explored this concerning intellectual disability.
Aim: This proposed scoping review study will identify, describe and map the associations between environmental and lifestyle factors and cancer development in individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Methods: This proposed study will use a scoping review methodology following Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) Methodological framework which includes ‘identifying the research question, searching for relevant studies, selecting studies, charting the data, collating, summarising, and reporting the results. EMBASE (Elsevier), CINAHL (EBSCO) and MEDLINE (EBSCO) will be searched using keywords and controlled vocabulary and evidence from the last 20 years will be included.
Findings: Environmental and lifestyle factors associated with cancer development in adults with intellectual disability will be synthesised and mapped. This will provide a useful synthesis of the existing literature and identify gaps where future research needs to focus.
Discussion: The findings of this review will be used by researchers, clinicians in practice and people with intellectual disability. This review will serve as a key resource that will provide background and context on the association between environmental and lifestyle factors and cancer in individuals with intellectual disabilities.