Daily Physical Activity Levels of Elementary School-Aged Children With and Without Mental Retardation

One of the goals of Healthy People 2010 is to eliminate health disparities of people with disabilities. However, there is a deficit of information on physical activity levels in children with mental retardation (MR) in both the school and out of school environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical activity levels of elementary school-aged children with and without MR in both school, after-school and weekend environments. Accelerometers were used to record physical activity levels of nine children with mild MR and 33 children without (NMR). Four multiple regressions were performed to identify the difference between groups while accounting for age, gender and BMI. While at school, physical activity levels for children with MR were significantly lower during both recess and physical education, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 respectively, After school and weekend physical activity levels for children with MR were significantly lower, p < 0.001, p = 0.006 respectively. The findings of this study indicate that the disparity in physical activity in individuals with MR begins as early as the elementary school years and is measurable across environments.

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