Body mass index and waist circumference of Latin American adult athletes with intellectual disability.

OBJECTIVES: To examine both body mass index (BMI) status and waist circunference (WC) in a large international sample of adult Special Olympics participants from Latin America. It also explored the association of age and sex with obesity in this population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: BMI and WC records from a total of 4174 (2683 male and 1491 female) participant records from the Special Olympics International Health Promotion database were examined.

RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was quite high (i.e. > 40%), but generally lower than studies involving adults with intellectual disabilities from Europe and the USA. Chi-square analyses revealed that both increasing age and being female significantly predicted levels of overweight, obesity, and WC.

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that efforts need to be made to prevent and reduce rates of overweight and obesity among Latin American Special Olympics participants, particularly women.