Obesity and Physical Activity Characteristics of Schoolchildren with Intellectual and Learning Disability

Previous studies indicated that schoolchildren with intellectual and learning disability have higher prevalence of obesity than those without disability. However, the role of physical activity on obesity in schoolchildren with intellectual and learning disability is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of obesity in children with or without intellectual and learning disability, and to distinguish the relationship with their physical activity levels. The data for the study were extracted from the Taipei School Children Physical and Mental Health Survey, a population based, cross-sectional epidemiological study of elementary schoolchildren of Taipei city. Based on the data, schoolchildren were divided into non-disability (ND) and intellectual/learning disability (ILD) groups. We found that gender- and age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) were higher in ILD than ND as analyzed by ANCOVA. Height and sedentary behavior times (watching TV and using computer) and physical activity levels were lower in ILD compared to ND group. Data adjusting for covariates in multinomial logistic regression showed that intellectual/learning disabilities were associated with obesity, exercise time below suggestion, and proportion of tendency was not to find the partner for exercise. The present study findings concluded that the high prevalence of obesity appears to be associated with physical activity level in schoolchildren with intellectual/learning disabilities. Moreover, we also found that ＂people support＂ plays an important role in exercise participation of elementary schoolchildren with intellectual/learning disability.