Physical fitness and overweight in Israeli children with and without developmental coordination disorder: gender differences.
Kids with DCD are far less fit and more overweight—girls with DCD need immediate obesity screening.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers compared fitness and body-fat in Israeli kids with and without developmental coordination disorder.
They used standard field tests and body-mass index to see who was fit and who was overweight.
The team also split results by gender to check if girls or boys were hit harder.
What they found
Children with DCD scored much lower on fitness and carried more body-fat than peers.
Girls with DCD showed the biggest weight gain and the steepest fitness drop.
The gap was already clear in late elementary years.
How this fits with other research
Rivilis et al. (2011) reviewed 40 studies and saw the same fitness gap world-wide, so the Israeli data are not a one-off.
Wahi et al. (2011) found bigger waistlines and higher triglycerides in kids with probable DCD, hinting that weight problems start even earlier.
Chirico et al. (2012) tracked adolescents for three years and showed that extra fat, not just clumsy movement, drives higher heart workload.
Together the papers draw a straight line: poor motor skills → less activity → excess weight → heart risk.
Why it matters
When a girl on your caseload has DCD, treat her as high-risk for obesity now, not later.
Add brief BMI checks to your motor assessment and write activity goals that keep weight in check.
A 15-minute daily movement game can protect both coordination and health.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Physical fitness and overweight among children has become paramount in the general population and more so in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between physical fitness and overweight in a sample of Israeli children in comparison to typical children, and to examine gender differences. DCD was identified through total scores on the movement assessment battery for children 2 (MABC-2) equal to or less than the 16th percentile as well as parents' report that the child's deficits in motor skills interfered with at least two daily life activities. The sample included a group of children with DCD (n=22, M age=8.70 [SD=1.36], 16 boys [73%]) and a control group of typical children (n=47, M age=8.90 [SD=1.52], 34 boys [72%]). Measures included the strength subtest of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency (BOT-2), the six minutes' walk test (6MWT) with heart rate measure, BMI and the percentage of body fat. Significant differences between DCD and typical children were found on all variables of physical fitness and weight. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis (group/gender) also revealed significant interactions for the percentage of body fat (F=8.51, p<.005) and BMI (F=4.50, p<.038) meaning that less fit children are more obese. The current study supports previous findings that children with DCD are less physically fit and more overweight compared to typically developing children. Moreover, in comparing between the genders, the girls in the study sample weighed more and had a significantly higher percentage of body fat than boys, it is essential to further our understanding of the relationships between obesity, physical fitness and gender among children with and without DCD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.020