The effect of the degree of disability on nutritional status and flat feet in adolescents with Down syndrome.
ID level alone does not tell you who will be obese or have flat feet in Down syndrome—screen everyone.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Jankowicz-Szymanska et al. (2013) looked at young adults with Down syndrome. They asked if worse intellectual disability means more obesity or flat feet.
They checked body mass index and foot posture in a small group. They split the group by mild, moderate, or severe ID.
What they found
ID level did not predict either problem. Girls and the moderate-ID group were heavier on average, but ID alone was not the cause.
Flat feet were common, yet ID severity did not change the odds.
How this fits with other research
Doughty et al. (2010) saw 2–3× higher obesity in teens with Down syndrome. Agnieszka’s team narrows that view: within Down syndrome, ID level is not the driver.
Takahashi et al. (2023) later showed heavy Down-syndrome teens start having sleep-breathing issues after age 13. They extend the story by linking obesity to a new health risk, even though ID level still does not matter.
Lloyd et al. (2012) found 30% of Special-Olympics kids with ID were overweight. The new data say check every Down-syndrome client, not just the ones with moderate ID.
Why it matters
Do not assume clients with severe ID are safest from obesity, or that mild-ID clients are low risk. Screen BMI and foot posture in every teen and young adult with Down syndrome. Use the numbers to start diet, activity, or orthotic plans right away, no matter the IQ score.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Excessive weight and obesity are ranked among lifestyle diseases. In the case of weight gain, the effectiveness of therapy based on diet and physical activity depends considerably on patients themselves, but despite this the number of those who successfully manage to lose weight is still not satisfactory. Preventing or treating excessive weight gain in the intellectually disabled is extremely difficult since they have a higher risk for developing obesity. The below presented study assessed the effect of the degree of intellectual disability on nutritional status in adolescents with Down syndrome. It also focused on some correlations between the degree of disability and a selected constituent of the body posture, i.e. flat feet. A total of 54 males and 26 females with mild and moderate Down syndrome, aged 18.68 ± 1.73, residents of Special Needs Education Centre in Tarnów, Poland, participated in the study, in which body weight and height, BMI, fat tissue percentage and the longitudinal arch of the foot were measured. A total of 17.5% of individuals with mild and 50% of individuals with moderate ID were found overweight or obese. Weight gain more often occurred in females. It seemed that flat feet were affected to a greater extent by the participants' nutritional status than their degree of disability. The study found no unambiguous effect of the degree of disability on the nutritional status and flat feet in individuals with Down syndrome.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.08.016