Prevalence of Abdominal Obesity in Children and Adolescents with Intellectual Disability in Southeastern Poland

Background/Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of occurrence of a significant health problem-abdominal obesity (AO)-in children and adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) compared to children and adolescents without disabilities, examined in the period 2013-2014. Methods: The study group included 568 students with various ID degrees (n = 265 mild; n = 249 moderate; n = 54 severe) (age range 7-18 years) attending care and educational facilities. The comparison group (non-ID) was randomly selected based on the principle of matching the group (age and sex) among students without ID. Anthropometric measurements were taken: waist circumference (WC), height, and body mass. To classify WC and BMI values, percentile charts developed within the OLAF project were used. Analyses were performed using the independence chi-square test, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) and logistic regression for multivariate analysis. The level of significance was assumed as α = 0.05. Results: The prevalence of AO in the ID group was not statistically significant (OR = 1.31; p = 0.056). The risk in the study group was significantly higher in the older age category (OR = 1.88; p < 0.001) and increased with the level of intellectual disability, amounting (OR = 3.71; p < 0.001) to moderate ID and (OR = 5.62; p < 0.001) for profound ID, respectively. Conclusions: Consideration should be given to the extension of preventive and therapeutic measures to defined subgroups of children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, who are particularly vulnerable to AO.