Body composition of school-aged children with disabilities

Children with disabilities are more likely to have problems related to growth and development than typically developing children. This study aimed to compare the growth and body composition indices of children with disabilities with those of typically developing children.

Students from two elementary schools and one special school were recruited. Height, bodyweight, fat mass, fat-free mass, skeletal muscle mass, and percentage body fat (PBF) were measured. Raw data and proportions of classifications (under, within, and over range) according to the reference value were analyzed.

In total, 355 typically developing children, and 73 children with disabilities participated. Fat-free mass was significantly lower in students with disabilities than in typically developing students (32.14 ± 5.82 versus 28.71 ± 5.92, P < 0.05). Compared with typically developing students, students with disabilities showed tendencies of lower ranges of body mass index (BMI) and fat mass index (FMI). The proportion of under, within, or over ranges of FFMI (fat-free mass index) was significantly different between the two groups. Among the factors, age, gender, and disability, disability significantly influenced FFMI in school-aged children. The proportion of three ranges of BMI, PBF, FMI were significantly different among the age groups in students with disabilities (P = 0.006, P = 0.0001, and P = 0.001, respectively). Younger children had significantly greater proportions of under range in BMI, PBF, and FMI.

Disability significantly affects FFMI, which represents muscle mass. Therefore, it is crucial to make efforts to increase physical activity and to improve nutrition in rehabilitative intervention strategies.