Underweight and overweight cases among the mentally retarded

• Published in: Journal of Intellectual Disability Research
• Main Authors: SIMILA, S., NISKANEN, P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1991
• Subjects: Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2788.1991.tb01046.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2788.1991.tb01046.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2788.1991.tb01046.x

ABSTRACT. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated at the age of 20 for all the 132 survivors (83%) out of the 159 mentally retarded individuals born in 1966 in Northern Finland. Reliable information was acquired for 112 cases (84.8%). The mean BMI for these cases did not deviate significantly from that for an average Finnish population at age 20‐29 years. It was found that 41.5% of the slightly retarded cases (IQ 35‐70) and 28‐6% of the seriously retarded ones (IQ<35) were of ideal weight (BMI 20‐24), while 9‐8% of all the retarded individuals were moderately obese (BMI>30) and 7‐1% seriously so (BMIS32). Ninety‐one per cent of the seriously obese cases lived with their parents and did not participate in any occupational therapy or work. A total of 29‐5% of the mentally retarded subjects were underweight (BMI<20), a condition which would seem to be above all a problem for seriously retarded individuals and an obvious consequence of the different feeding and dietary problems connected with their multiple disabilities.