The prevalence of overweight and obesity and its determinants in children with and without disabilities

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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Judith E Neter1, Dieuwke F Schokker, Elske de Jong

  • 1Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam/Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, the Netherlands. judith.neter@falw.vu.nl

The Journal of Pediatrics
|December 15, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Children with disabilities have a significantly higher prevalence of overweight and obesity compared to their non-disabled peers. This highlights an urgent need for targeted healthy lifestyle interventions for disabled children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Disability Studies
  • Public Health Nutrition

Background:

  • Overweight and obesity are significant global health concerns in childhood.
  • Children with disabilities may face unique challenges influencing their health behaviors.
  • Understanding disparities in health is crucial for developing equitable interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare overweight and obesity prevalence in primary school children with and without disabilities.
  • To assess differences in nutrition and physical activity behaviors between these groups.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study involving 4072 non-disabled and 85 disabled primary school children in Zwolle, Netherlands.
  • Objective measurements of height and body weight.
  • Parental questionnaires on child's nutrition and physical activity behavior.
  • Statistical analysis using chi-squared tests and ANOVA.

Main Results:

  • Prevalence of overweight was 30.6% and obesity was 10.6% in disabled children, 3-6 times higher than in non-disabled children (P < .001).
  • Statistically significant differences were observed in nutrition and physical activity behaviors between disabled and non-disabled children.

Conclusions:

  • Disabled children exhibit a substantially higher prevalence of overweight and obesity.
  • There are notable differences in lifestyle behaviors between disabled and non-disabled children.
  • Interventions promoting healthy lifestyles are critically needed to address overweight and obesity in disabled children.
Abstract

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