A Study to Evaluate Growth in Mentally Retarded Children Aged 5 - 15 Years in Dharwad Urban, India

Background and Objectives: Many studies had been done to find the prevalence of overweight and obesity among mentally retarded children in different parts of the world. But none were conducted in India and this part of Karnataka. The objective of our study was to evaluate the growth among the mentally retarded children aged between 5 to 15 years.

Methods: A sample size of 205 was chosen. A signed informed consent was received by the parents. Height (measured on stadiometer) and weight (measured on digital weighing scales) of the samples who met the inclusion criteria were taken and their BMI was calculated.

Results: Data analysis and results show that there 4.65% were overweight and 2.79% were obesity among the children aged 5 to 15 years boys and girls. However there was 76.28% were underweight among the samples and 16.28% were normal BMI among the samples. When growth was considered among the boys, 2.67% were obese, 6% were overweight, 16.00% was normal and 75.33% were underweight. Similar results were found among girls samples also; 3.08% obese, 1.54% overweight, 16.92% normal and 78.46% underweight.

Conclusion: We conclude that there is 76.28%, 16.28%, 4.65% and 2.79% were underweight, normal, overweight and obesity respectively among the mentally retarded children aged between 5 to 15 years.