Adults with intellectual disability have a higher and increasing prevalence of obesity compared to the general population, highlighting a significant health disparity.
Highlights widening obesity disparity in intellectual disability; leaves open whether targeted interventions improve outcomes.
The prevalence of obese, overweight, and healthy weight adults with intellectual disability in the community was estimated using data from the National Health Interview Survey from 1985 to 2000. Using the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a measure, the percentage of adults with intellectual disability in the obese category was higher than that for the general population and increased over the 16-year period. There was no similar detectable trend for adults with intellectual disability who were in the overweight category. Compared to their counterparts in the general population, a smaller proportion of women and young adults with intellectual disability maintained their weights in the healthy range. Implications regarding potential health risks and future research were discussed.
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Kiyoshi Yamaki (2005) studied this question.
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