Elder Abuse Issues

Editor's note: We asked Utah Adult Protective Services to write this article to give the public an idea of the magnitude of elder abuse not only in Utah but in the entire country. We feel Utah could be representative of the national population.

According to census bureau estimates, Utah had a population, age 65 and older, of approximately 206,600 in 2004. We estimate, based on national statistics, that Utah's population of mentally retarded and developmentally disabled people under the age of 65 Is approximately 24,000 people. This gives Utah an estimated population subject to abuse reporting of 230,600 people. Utah protective services in this article estimates there may have been 24,000 reported and unreported cases of disabled and elderly abuse in 2004. Assuming some cases were for the same individual this still means that about one out of ten in the targeted reporting population in Utah is experiencing elder abuse from family or others. 10% of the population in Utah, subject to elder abuse reporting, could be at risk.

If Utah's statistics are representative of the nation as a whole, then 10% of the estimated 40,532,000 elderly, mentally retarded and developmentally disabled people in the United States could be experiencing abuse. This is a little over 4.5 million people.

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