The effects of using comprehensive geriatric assessment, a recently developed approach found to be effective in evaluating elderly patients, was explored with 41 community-based elderly individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities to determine whether it would reveal a greater number of medical, dental, and psychiatric diagnoses when compared to their previous medical care. Functional status and medication usage of these subjects was assessed and described. Statistically significant increases in the number of medical and dental diagnoses were found. An increased number of psychiatric diagnoses, though not significant, was also found. Results suggest that comprehensive geriatric assessment is useful in the evaluation of the health care needs of individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities.