Međaković Jelena, Čivljak Antonia, Zorčec Tatjana, Vučić Vesna, Ristić-Medić Danijela, Veselinović Aleksandra, Čivljak Marta, Puljak Livia
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and Health Care, Department of Nursing, Department of Medicine, Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia.
Institute of Emergency Medicine of Zagreb County, Velika Gorica, Croatia.
BMC Pediatr. 2024 Dec 19;24(1):819. doi: 10.1186/s12887-024-05259-z.
Multiple studies have shown that children with developmental disabilities (CDD) often live with unrecognized and untreated pain, consume inadequate diet and have inadequate levels of physical activity. This study aimed to analyze pain, dietary habits and physical activity of CDD in Croatia, North Macedonia and Serbia.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in Croatia, North Macedonia and Serbia in March-April 2023 within the Erasmus+ SynergyEd project. The study included parents and caregivers of CDD. Data were collected via online survey.
We included 954 participants from Croatia (N=543; 57%), North Macedonia (N=205; 21%) and Serbia (N=206; 22%). Participants reported that 16% of children suffered from chronic pain related to their condition. The main findings of our study are that chronic pain is prevalent in CDD (16%). Almost half (48%) of participants avoid certain foods for their children. The majority of children (86%) were not on a special diet. Among those that were on a special diet, they were most commonly (60%) on a gluten-free diet. Most (54%) participants stated that their children used nutritional supplements. Less than half participants (45%) stated that the child is involved in some kind of physical activity. Only 17% of CDD engaged in physical activities 5 h or more per week.
Our findings indicate that chronic pain, inadequate dietary patterns and insufficient physical activity are common in CDD from Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. Education of parents and caregivers can mitigate their use of interventions that have not been proven effective, such as for example the use of gluten-free diets in CDD.
多项研究表明，发育障碍儿童（CDD）常常伴有未被识别和未得到治疗的疼痛，饮食摄入不足且身体活动水平欠佳。本研究旨在分析克罗地亚、北马其顿和塞尔维亚发育障碍儿童的疼痛、饮食习惯和身体活动情况。
2023年3月至4月，在伊拉斯谟+协同教育项目框架下，于克罗地亚、北马其顿和塞尔维亚开展了一项横断面研究。该研究纳入了发育障碍儿童的家长和照料者。通过在线调查收集数据。
我们纳入了来自克罗地亚（N = 543；57%）、北马其顿（N = 205；21%）和塞尔维亚（N = 206；22%）的954名参与者。参与者报告称，16%的儿童患有与其病情相关的慢性疼痛。我们研究的主要发现是，慢性疼痛在发育障碍儿童中很普遍（16%）。近一半（48%）的参与者会为孩子避开某些食物。大多数儿童（86%）未采用特殊饮食。在采用特殊饮食的儿童中，最常见的是无麸质饮食（60%）。大多数（54%）参与者表示他们的孩子使用营养补充剂。不到一半的参与者（45%）表示孩子参与了某种体育活动。只有17%的发育障碍儿童每周进行5小时或更长时间的体育活动。
我们的研究结果表明，慢性疼痛、不良饮食模式和体育活动不足在克罗地亚、马其顿和塞尔维亚的发育障碍儿童中很常见。对家长和照料者进行教育可以减少他们使用未经证实有效的干预措施，例如在发育障碍儿童中使用无麸质饮食。
