Physical inactivity among parents of children with and without Down syndrome: the National Health Interview Survey.
Parents of kids with Down syndrome are half again as likely to be couch-bound—so build quick movement prompts into your caregiver training.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers looked at a big national health survey. They compared how active parents of kids with Down syndrome are versus other parents.
The team used numbers from the National Health Interview Survey. This covers thousands of families across the United States.
What they found
Parents of children with Down syndrome move less. They are 50 percent more likely to be physically inactive.
This risk is higher than for parents of typically developing kids or parents of children with other disabilities.
How this fits with other research
Freeman et al. (2015) pooled 19 studies and found parents of kids with developmental disabilities report worse physical health. Diaz (2020) now shows one reason why: they simply do not move enough.
Yamaoka et al. (2022) saw mothers in special-education schools carry higher BMI and poorer mental health. The new survey adds the missing piece—physical inactivity starts earlier.
McEvilly et al. (2015) tracked Swedish parents of kids with autism and found more sick days. Diaz (2020) mirrors this pattern in the U.S. with Down syndrome parents, showing the problem crosses countries and diagnoses.
Why it matters
If you serve a child with Down syndrome, add parent fitness to your plan. Ask caregivers how often they walk, stretch, or get outside. Link them to free local exercise groups or 10-minute home workout videos. A moving parent has more energy for therapy carry-over and models healthy habits for the whole family.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests that parents of children with intellectual disabilities have poorer physical health than parents of typically developing children. However, it is unclear why. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in physical inactivity among a population-based sample of parents of children with and without Down syndrome. METHODS: Data for this analysis come from 11 waves (2005-2016) of the National Health Interview Survey, a U.S. nationally representative survey. Minutes per week of leisure-time physical activity were ascertained by self-report with physical inactivity defined as reporting no leisure-time physical activity. Parents were classified as (1) parents of typically developing children, (2) parents of children with Down syndrome, (3) parents of children with a developmental disability that had a high functional impact (autism, cerebral palsy, vision impairment or hearing impairment), (4) parents of children with an intellectual or developmental disability, but who did not have Down syndrome or a high-impact developmental disabilities, and (5) parents of children with other special health care needs. RESULTS: Parents of children with Down syndrome were more likely to be physically inactive compared with parents of typical children (odds ratio [OR]: 1.51 [95% confidence interval, CI: 1.08, 2.12]) and had the lowest likelihood among all subgroups of parents to children with developmental disabilities or special health care needs. Parents of children with Down syndrome also had a significantly greater likelihood of being physically inactive compared with parents of children with other special health care needs (OR: 1.56 [95% CI: 1.11, 2.19]), with developmental disabilities without high functional impact (OR: 1.58 [95% CI: 1.12, 2.24]) and with developmental disabilities with high functional impact (OR: 1.46 [95% CI: 1.03, 2.08]). CONCLUSION: Parents of children with Down syndrome are more likely to be physically inactive compared with parents of typically developing children and parents of children with other developmental disabilities or special health care needs. These findings suggest that parents of children with Down syndrome are a population in urgent need for interventions/programmes that promote physical activity, particularly as child well-being is linked to caregiver health.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2020 · doi:10.1111/jir.12680