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Obesity prevalence in two national cohorts of children with disabilities: Patterns over time and by disability

North Cooc1, Alexis Bacon-Yates1, Kevin A Gee2

  • 1Department of Special Education, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, Stop 5300, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.

Disability and Health Journal
|July 6, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Childhood obesity increases from kindergarten to fifth grade, particularly for children with disabilities. Rates were higher for disabled children and similar across subgroups, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Disability Studies
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Obesity disproportionately impacts children with disabilities in the U.S.
  • Limited data exists on obesity trends and variations across disability subgroups over time.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Examine changes in obesity rates in children with disabilities from kindergarten to fifth grade.
  • Disaggregate obesity rates for specific subgroups: speech or language impairment (SLI), specific learning disability (SLD), intellectual disability (ID), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of two nationally representative cohorts from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K: 1999 and ECLS-K: 2011).
  • Involved approximately 9,800 and 8,500 children, respectively.
  • Logistic regression was employed for data analysis.

Main Results:

  • Obesity prevalence increased from 16-18% in kindergarten to 26-31% by fifth grade for children with disabilities in both cohorts.
  • Obesity rates in fifth grade were 4-7 percentage points higher for children with disabilities compared to their peers without disabilities.
  • Obesity rates and grade-level trends were consistent across the examined disability subgroups (SLI, SLD, ID, ASD).

Conclusions:

  • Emphasizes the need to monitor dietary, behavioral, and physical activity factors influencing obesity risk in children with disabilities.
  • Recommends targeted obesity prevention strategies for all children with disabilities, including those with less severe SLI and SLD.
Abstract

Keywords:
Childhood obesityDisabilityElementary schoolLongitudinal

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