The Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity and Its Determinants in Children with and Without Disabilities

Objectives: To compare the prevalence of overweight and obesity and nutrition and physical activity behavior between primary school children with and without disabilities.

Study Design: Body weight and height were measured in 4072 children from regular primary schools in the city of Zwolle, the Netherlands, and in 85 children from a school for children with disabilities. Furthermore, parents completed a questionnaire on the child's nutrition and physical activity behavior. A χ(2) analysis was used to test categorical variables between groups, and analysis of variance was used for continuous variables.

Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among disabled children was 30.6% and 10.6%, respectively, which is three and six times higher than in nondisabled children (P < .001). Furthermore, our study shows statistically significant differences in nutrition and physical activity behavior between disabled and nondisabled children.

Conclusions: There is a need to promote a healthy lifestyle and to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity in disabled children.