Physical activity during school and after school among youth with and without intellectual disability.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about physical activity (PA) among children with intellectual disability (ID) or their reasons to take part in PA and sport. AIMS: To investigate PA and PA patterns during school and after school among Icelandic children with mild-to-severe ID. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Ninety-one children with ID and a matched group of 93 typically developed individuals (TDI) took part. PA was assessed with accelerometers and a questionnaire was used to collect data on PA behavior. RESULTS AND OUTCOMES: TDI children were more active and less sedentary than children with ID (p<0.001). Both sexes with ID were more active and less sedentary during school than after school (p<0.003) but no difference was found among TDI children. Children with ID (60%) were more likely to name weight loss as a reason to participate in PA than TDI children (34%, p=0.002) but a higher proportion (96%) of TDI children than children with ID (50%) participated in PA to improve skills (p<0.001). CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Children with ID depend more on schools to accumulate their PA and their reasons for PA participation differ from TDI children. This needs to be considered when designing and implementing PA promotion campaigns for children with ID.

[Physical activity and physical condition of Icelandic primary and secondary school children with intellectual disability]. / Hreyfing og líkamlegt ástand íslenskra grunnskólabarna med proskahömlun.

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about physical activity, body composition and metabolic risk factors among children with intellectual disability (ID). The purpose of this study was to investigate their physical condition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Children with ID (n=91) and a randomly selected age-and-gender matched group of 93 typically developed individuals (TDI) participated and the groups were compared on physical activity, fitness, body composition, blood pressure, blood lipids, and glycemic control. RESULTS: Children with ID were shorter (-8.6 cm, p<0.001), had greater skinfolds (p<0.001), diastolic blood pressure (22.7 mm, p=0,006), and body fat percentage (4.0 percentage points, p=0.008) than TDI children. Boys with ID had larger waist circumference than TDI boys (6.3 cm, p=0.009) but no difference was found among the girls. Higher proportion (41%) of children with ID than TDI children (19%) were categorized as obese (p=0.006) based on body fat percentage. No children with ID reached the recommended daily 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous physical activity compared to 40% of the TDI children. Only 25% of children with ID achieved the recommended levels for fitness, whereas the same proportion was 75% among TDI children. Over 20% of the children with ID had elevated waist circumference, 34% elevated blood pressure, 13-21% elevated metabolic risk factors in the blood, and 7% were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. These prevalences were lower among the TDI children. CONCLUSION: Physical condition of children with ID is poor and inferior to their TDI peers. Further studies are needed to investigate the reasons underlying the poor physical health among children with ID and how it can most effectively be enhanced.