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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Obesity in British children with and without intellectual disability: cohort study

Authors: Eric Emerson, Janet Robertson, Susannah Baines, Chris Hatton

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Reducing the prevalence of and inequities in the distribution of child obesity will require developing interventions that are sensitive to the situation of ‘high risk’ groups of children. Children with intellectual disability appear to be one such group. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of obesity in children with and without intellectual disability in a longitudinal representative sample of British children and identify risk factors associated with obesity at age 11.

Methods

Information was collected on a nationally representative sample of over 18,000 at ages 9 months, 3, 5, 7 and 11 years. We used UK 1990 gender-specific growth reference charts and the LMS Growth programme to identify age and gender-specific overweight and obesity BMI thresholds for each child at ages 5, 7 and 11 years.

Results

Children with intellectual disabilities were significantly more likely than other children to be obese at ages five (OR = 1.32[1.03–1.68]), seven (OR = 1.39[1.05–1.83]) and eleven (OR = 1.68[1.39–2.03]). At ages five and seven increased risk of obesity among children with intellectual disabilities was only apparent among boys. Among children with intellectual disability risk of obesity at age eleven was associated with persistent maternal obesity, maternal education, child ethnicity and being bullied at age five.

Conclusions

Children with intellectual disability are a high-risk group for the development of obesity, accounting for 5–6 % of all obese children. Interventions to reduce the prevalence and inequities in the distribution of child obesity will need to take account of the specific situation of this group of children.
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Metadata
Title
Obesity in British children with and without intellectual disability: cohort study
Authors
Eric Emerson
Janet Robertson
Susannah Baines
Chris Hatton
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3309-1

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