Research neglects alarming obesity rates in disabled children

By Louise Kinross

Children with disabilities are two to four times more likely to be overweight, and two to four times less likely to be physically active, than their peers, according to Dr. James Rimmer, a professor in the School of Health Professions and research chair in Health Promotion and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Alabama.

Despite these alarming numbers, the bulk of U.S. government funding goes to research into weight management for typical children, Dr. Rimmer said.

Dr. Rimmer was speaking today at a consensus-building workshop at Holland Bloorview in Toronto bringing together international experts and families to look at research to address weight management in children with disabilities.

Dr. Rimmer shared a number of American studies that showed dramatically higher rates of obesity in children and teens with physical and intellectual disabilities and lower rates of participation in school gym class and recess and extracurricular activities. “There is a tendency to not take these children out for physical education or recess and to involve them in more sedentary activities,” Dr. Rimmer said. In addition, after-school programs and playgrounds in the community may be inaccessible.

“We have to teach society that there are ways to adapt programs and include kids with physical and cognitive disabilities,” Dr. Rimmer said.

In addition to being socially isolated, youth with disabilities and obesity are more likely to have a host of secondary conditions such as high cholesterol, asthma, pressure ulcers, fatigue, depression, low self-esteem, high blood pressure and liver and gallbladder disease.

“My mission in life has been something called inclusion,” said Dr. Rimmer, noting that he has an adult daughter with autism who has been excluded from preschool and playdates since she was three. “Doctors need to understand that there are many associated consequences of obesity.”

Dr. Rimmer said that some tools that screen for weight issues don't identify problems in kids with certain kinds of disabilities. For example, using body mass index, which is a ratio of height to weight, doesn't work with children with paralysis.

Factors influencing the association between disability and obesity, he said, include: increased dietary intake; less physical activity; decreased fat-free body mass; lower resting metabolic rate, which is the rate at which you expend energy while at rest; and poorer heart function.

Despite the prevalence of obesity in children with disabilities, a disproportionate amount of U.S. government funding goes to research into weight management for children in general, Dr. Rimmer said.

He referenced a 2010 chart from the National Institutes of Health showing 116 federally-funded studies on obesity intervention for the general child population, compared to only eight studies targeted to children with disabilities. Dr. Rimmer noted that research on the general population typically excluded children with chronic medical conditions and genetic syndromes and those who don't walk or take medication. 

Dr. Rimmer said we need to learn from weight management programs that have been effective for the typical child population and adapt them for children with disabilities. “We need a systematic framework for developing guidelines, recommendations and adaptations.”

Dr. Rimmer spoke of a model that included convening an expert panel to assess whether existing guidelines target the disability population and creating focus groups where parents and youth with disabilities evaluate proposed adaptations. “We always find multiple holes in our recommendations after we go through the family focus groups,” he said.

Dr. Rimmer said it's generally not that difficult or costly to adapt programs, and that two common areas that need attention are training instructors on how to work with kids with disability and developing disability-friendly parent education materials.

Overall, adaptations should consider the built environment, such as the need for a ramp or access from a vehicle to a field; appropriate equipment; inclusion of all children in every game, sport or activity in and outside the class; and instruction for staff, for example, in how to communicate with a child with autism.

Dr. Rimmer said obesity is associated with carbohydrates and “our rates of obesity can come down demographically if can get refined carbohydrates, such as high fructose corn syrup, out of our diets.”

Inclusion is a right, he said, not a privilege.