The prevalence and determinants of overweight and obesity among French youths and adults with intellectual disabilities attending special education schools.
Across France, China, and the globe, roughly one in three youth with intellectual disabilities is already overweight or obese, with girls and medicated students at highest risk.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Jérome et al. (2013) weighed and measured 1,120 students in French special-education schools. All students had an intellectual disability. The team used BMI to label each child as normal, overweight, or obese.
They also asked about sex, region, how long the child had been in special ed, and any psychotropic medicine. These facts helped find who was most at risk.
What they found
Roughly one in three students carried extra weight. About 20% were overweight and 9% were obese.
Girls, students in southern France, those in school longer, and youths on psychotropic meds had the highest odds of being overweight or obese.
How this fits with other research
Yuan et al. (2021) ran the same kind of survey in China and saw almost the same totals—about 30% of students with ID were overweight or obese. This match tells us the problem is global, not just French.
Lloyd et al. (2012) looked at Special-Olympics youth worldwide one year earlier and again found ~30% overweight or obese. The close numbers across three continents show the 30% figure is sturdy.
Day et al. (2021) moved the lens to older Irish adults with ID and saw much higher rates—nearly 70% overweight or obese. The youth data now look like the early stage of a steep climb that keeps rising after school ends.
Why it matters
If you work in special-education classrooms, expect about one third of your learners to carry extra weight. Build in daily movement breaks, limit sugary snacks at school parties, and track BMI at least yearly. When you see a student on psychotropic meds or entering high school, flag them for closer nutrition and activity planning—those two factors keep popping up as red flags across countries.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examines the prevalence of overweight and obesity and a panel of potential determinants among French youths and adults with an intellectual disability (ID). The sample used consisted of 1120 youths and adults with an ID, from 5 to 28 years old, attending a French special education school. The results indicated that 19.8% of the participants with an ID are classified as overweight and 8.6% as obese. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that there are nearly three times more girls/women classified as overweight than boys/men. Additionally, they showed that there are nearly two times more participants from southern France classified as overweight than from northern France, and that the risk of being classified as overweight significantly increases with seniority in the school. Next, the interaction effects observed indicated first that there are nearly two times more boys/men on psychotropic medication classified as overweight than boys/men not on psychotropic medication. Second, they revealed that the odds of being classified as overweight for boys/men not on psychotropic medication are 47% lower than for girls/women not on psychotropic medication. Third, they indicated that there are nearly two times more boys/men from southern France classified as obese than boys/men from northern France. Fourth, they showed that the odds of being classified as obese for boys/men from northern France are 52% lower than for girls/women from northern France. In conclusion, these results should be viewed as preliminary and need to be replicated since, to our knowledge, this study is the first one to examine this topic while simultaneously controlling for all of the potential determinants and relying on a sample of youths and adults.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.12.007