Relationship Between Obesity and Intellectual/Developmental Disability in an Ohio Telepsychiatry Clinic: A Retrospective Review.
Sana Shameem, Megan Luft, Michael Harrington and 4 others
PMID 38907779WHAT IT FOUND
In adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities seen in a telepsychiatry clinic, 52.4% were obese.
Obesity prevalence was highest in those with autism alone and lowest in those with profound intellectual disability. This association does not prove cause.
Key findings
01Obesity prevalence in this clinical sample was 52.4%, which the authors state is higher than the general US estimate of 41.9%.
02There was a significant inverse relationship between intellectual disability severity and obesity, with those with less severe disability having greater odds of obesity.
03Patients with autism spectrum disorder alone had over twice the odds of obesity compared to those with both autism and intellectual disability, though the overall association for diagnosis type was not significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is a retrospective chart review, so it cannot prove that ID or ASD causes obesity. BMI was self-reported or reported by caregivers via telehealth, introducing potential measurement error. The sample was not demographically diverse; 91% of patients with known race/ethnicity were white. Many patients had co-occurring psychiatric conditions and took multiple medications, making it difficult to isolate the effect of ID/ASD status alone. The study excluded patients who were not seen in the clinic during the specific one-year period, potentially missing those lost to follow-up.
Declared interests
No specific funding or conflict of interest declarations were provided in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the inverse relationship between ID severity and obesity as evidence that severe ID protects against obesity. The study is observational and cannot determine cause, and the lower rates in severe ID may reflect differences in living arrangements, caregiver control over diet, or measurement issues rather than a biological protective effect.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →