Overweight and obesity in older people with intellectual disability.
Most older adults with ID are obese; check BMI and waist yearly and pair any exercise plan with diet and behavior supports.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Grindle et al. (2012) weighed and measured 945 Dutch adults with intellectual disability who were 50 or older.
They used BMI and waist size to judge obesity.
The team also recorded medicine use, exercise level, and living place.
What they found
About 1 in 4 adults had obesity by BMI.
Almost half had obesity by waist size.
Rates were higher than in same-age adults without disability.
Down syndrome, little exercise, and antipsychotic drugs raised risk.
How this fits with other research
Hsieh et al. (2014) saw the same pattern: adults with ID carry more obesity, especially women and those with Down syndrome.
Sasson et al. (2022) pooled 17 exercise trials and found workouts alone did not shrink obesity numbers.
That seems to clash with F et al.’s call for “address inactivity,” but the two papers measure different things.
F et al. counted how many people are obese; J et al. asked if exercise fixes it.
Together they tell us: screen first, then plan diet plus behavior support, not just gym time.
Why it matters
Add waist circumference to every annual BMI check for clients 50-plus with ID.
Flag Down syndrome, low activity, and antipsychotic use as red flags.
Pair any activity goal with nutrition and behavior plans—exercise alone is not enough.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Overweight and obesity are major health problems associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, which is not sufficiently studied in people with intellectual disability yet. The present study was part of the Healthy Ageing in Intellectual Disability (HA-ID) study. The aim of this study was to establish (1) the prevalence of overweight, obesity and body fat percentage in older people with intellectual disability (ID) through measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and skin fold thickness, and compare this with prevalence of overweight and obesity in the general population, and (2) the association of overweight and obesity with participant and treatment characteristics (gender, age, level of ID, Down syndrome, autism, independent living, smoking, (instrumental) activities of daily living ((I)ADL), physical activity and use of atypical antipsychotic medication) using regression analyses. In this cross-sectional study 945 persons, aged 50 and over with borderline to profound ID, living in central settings, in community settings and independently were included. Overweight and obesity were highly prevalent, with more obesity (26%) than in the general Dutch older population (10%) as measured by BMI, and 46-48% obesity as measured by waist circumference and WHR respectively. Women, people with Down syndrome, higher age, less severe ID, autism, people who are able to eat independently, preparing meals and doing groceries independently, people with physical inactivity and use of atypical antipsychotics were significantly more at risk of being overweight or obese. This merits specific actions by policy makers and clinical practice to improve health outcomes.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.022