Overweight in intellectually-disabled population: physical, behavioral and psychological characteristics.
Nearly half of institutionalized adults with ID are overweight, but simple daily sports and fruit can slash the risk.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mikulovic et al. (2014) visited four residential centers in France. They weighed and measured 752 adults with intellectual disability. Staff answered questions about each adult's eating, exercise, and mood.
The team wanted to know how common overweight is in this group and what raises the risk.
What they found
Almost half of the adults (45.6%) were overweight. Women faced triple the obesity risk of men.
Adults who joined regular sports or ate fruit most days were less likely to be heavy. Those who munched high-fat snacks or felt sad often were more likely to be heavy.
How this fits with other research
Li et al. (2018) extends these numbers. They tracked U.S. community adults with IDD and found obesity adds about $2,500 per year in health costs. Together the two papers show weight is both common and pricey.
Lante et al. (2010) helps explain why. Adults with ID burn more calories than typical adults during the same slow walk. Yet they still gain weight, pointing to food choices and low activity as the bigger drivers.
Kawauchi et al. (2025) flags another danger: heavier patients with ID are far more likely to drop oxygen during dental sedation. Weight control is not just about looks—it keeps clients safer in everyday care.
Why it matters
You can act on these facts today. Add a daily 30-minute walk at 3 km/h—it's moderate exercise for most clients. Pair it with easy fruit choices and limit fatty snack tins. Track weight and mood each month; small dips cut future medical bills and sedation risk.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Intellectually disabled (ID) people are at high risk of overweight and obesity. Prevalence and risk factors were assessed in a French population of ID adults attending specialized institutions, using a questionnaire focusing on demographic characteristics, physical activities, food habits and self-awareness about body and health. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate regression. Overall, 570 participants were included in the analysis (59% male), aged 19-59 years. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.9 kg/m(2); 45.6% of participants were overweight (BMI ≥ 25), including 17.2% who were obese (BMI ≥ 30). Participants practiced sports for 5.7h/week on average and were sedentary for 21.8h/week (time spent in front of some kind of screen). Most participants had food and self-care habits usually regarded as healthy. Eighty percent of them felt unhappy with their body and their physical capacities, but otherwise expressed a rather good opinion of themselves. Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed that some behavioral habits were associated with a reduced incidence of overweight and/or obesity, such as regular sport practice outside the institution, good personal body care or alcohol avoidance. The strongest risk factor was gender. Women were much more at risk than men of being overweight (53.9% versus 39.9%) and obese (28.2% versus 9.5%). Results suggest numerous ways to improve the health of institutionalized ID adults, related to sports education, nutrition and self-care, with particular attention paid to women.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.10.012