Abstract

Background: Intellectual disability (ID) is reported to affect approximately 1% of the global population. Despite the low prevalence, adults with ID require higher levels of health care utilization in comparison to the general population. Research demonstrates that adults with ID face several health-related inequities. To combat the healthcare disparities for individuals with ID there must be a focus on increasing the awareness, management, and development of health promotion strategies that can lower their incidence of chronic conditions like obesity.

Methods: Maintained by Special Olympics International, the Healthy Athletes database is the largest database on the health of individuals with ID. 317 Special Olympics athletes participated in the Healthy Athletes’ Health Promotion discipline at the 2020 Winter Games. This research study focuses on understanding the health of adults with ID through the analysis of variables like BMI, BP, nutritional intake, and physical activity

Results: Our analysis shows the relationship between nutritional inadequacy and high classifications of BMI and blood pressure. The largest proportion of athletes had a BMI that was classified as obese (39%) and a BP reading that was classified as stage 1 hypertensive (35.4%). Nutritionally speaking, athletes reported low intakes of fruits and vegetables, and high amounts of unhealthy snack foods. All these trends were consistent amongst both male and female athletes.

Conclusions: This study reflects the importance of planning, promoting, and implementing more accessible health-promotion activities for individuals with ID. These changes in the community will provide adults with ID and their caregivers the necessary skillset to improve their overall quality of life by decreasing their prevalence of chronic conditions. The successful utilization of these tools will help initiate reductions in health care costs and reliance in the future.