Prevalance of obesity in children with cerebral palsy.

INTRODUCTION

Obesity are epidemic among children and adolescents. There is worldwide tendency of increasing prevalence of obesity in children. Cerebral palsy (CP) is leading cause of childhood disability.studies have proposed mechanism of children with disability leading towards obesity and related health risks. So this study is aimed at determining whether such trend of obesity exists in children with CP in terms of BMI and WHR.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross -sectional study.

PARTICIPANTS

40 children diagnosed as CP age 2-18 years, GMFCS I-IV.

PROCEDURE

BMI; kg/m(2) was calculated from height and weight. WHR was calculated by measuring waist circumference and hip circumference. BMI percentiles were reported according to sex-specific age group standards for growth set by the WHO growth charts.

RESULTS

Out of total CP subjects 40% were found to be underweight, 45%, 7.5% and 7.5% were found to be normal, overweight and obese respectively according to BMI. Whereas 20%, 20% 60% were found to be at high risk, moderate risk and high risk of obesity respectively according to WHR.

CONCLUSION

In our patient population, analysis of BMI and WHR suggests that children with CP have a high rate of overweight and are at risk of overweight, particularly of central obesity.