Physical functioning and Disability in obese 10- to 13-year-olds

Day-to-day physical functioning and disability in obese 10- to 13-year-olds

WeightControl.com Authors? Interview:

Dr. Alison Coates Ph.D.

Dr. Alison Coates Ph.D.

Nutritional Physiology Research Centre,
School of Health Sciences,
Sansom Institute for Health Research,
University of South Australia

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Dr Margarita Tsiros Ph.D

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Dr Margarita?Tsiros? Ph.D
Division of Health Sciences
School of Health Sciences
University of South Australia

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WeightControl.com: What are the main findings of the study?

This study found that children who are obese have reduced?physical functioning.

In particular, children with obesity found it more difficult to carry out everyday tasks like climbing stairs, getting up from a chair and walking.

They also rated their own physical well-being much lower than their healthy-weight peers and spent less time participating in community activities, including recreation and sports.

WeightControl.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

With the exception of community participation, we did not find any other meaningful differences in how obese children spent their time in key areas of their lives (self-care, domestic and mobility activities) and they did not report experiencing greater physical difficulty with these activities. We think these unexpected findings could be explained in a number of ways?

Firstly, that children with obesity may not be aware that they have a harder time participating in aspects of their life as it?s just what they?ve always known and they?ve accommodated over time.

Another explanation may be that they are reluctant to highlight their difficulties ? there is already so much stigma attached to weight issues and children do not want to be different to their peers. It could also be that while children with obesity have a reduced capacity to undertake certain daily tasks (as we found in this study), once they are out functioning in their ?real world? they are able to overcome any restrictions they may have.

WeightControl.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from this study?

Clinicians should be aware that children with obesity may have a harder time moving about and that this may worsen with the degree of obesity. This should be taken into account when prescribing exercise programs for children with obesity.

WeightControl.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of your study?

It is known that obese adults have greater disability in their day-to-day lives. The question is, when does this start to emerge in children? We are interested in looking at the physical functioning of children as they move through adolescence, approaching adulthood to answer this question. If we can isolate what obesity-related factors impact functioning, then we can intervene to improve physical function which will assist in achieving a healthy-weight and active lifestyle.

Citation:

Tsiros, M. D., Buckley, J. D., Howe, P. R. C., Olds, T., Walkley, J., Taylor, L., Mallows, R., Hills, A. P., Kagawa, M. and Coates, A. M. (2012), Day-to-day physical functioning and disability in obese 10- to 13-year-olds. Pediatric Obesity. doi:?10.1111/j.2047-6310.2012.00083

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Source: http://weightcontrol.com/children-adolescence/physical-functioning-disability-obese-10-13-year-olds/

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