Association of poverty and social exclusion with body mass index among Special Olympics athletes in Europe

Abstract

10Objectives: To examine the association of a risk of poverty and social exclusion (AROPE), age, and 11 gender with the Body Mass Index (BMI) status of European Special Olympics athletes. 12Methods: BMI records were available for 1,905 children and youth and 5,517 adults from the Special 13Olympics International (SOI) Health Promotion database. AROPE was extracted from EU Eurostat 14 statistics. Logistic regression analyses were used to predict BMI status. 15Results: For children/youth and adults respectively, 9.4% and 6.3% were underweight and 25.3% and 16 44.6% were overweight/obese. Being underweight was significantly associated with higher AROPE 17 rates. Being female, and lower AROPE rates, were significantly associated with overweight/obesity for 18 both children/youth (OR=1.27; 95% CI: 1.07-1.50 and OR=0.97; 95% CI: 0.96-0.98) and adults 19 (OR=1.55; 95% CI: 1.39-1.72 and OR=0.96; 95% CI: 0.95-0.98). 20 Conclusions:The Europe 2020 "platform against poverty" strategy aims to ensure that those 21 experiencing poverty and social exclusion share the benefits of economic growth. These findings suggest 22 that SOI health promotion efforts to foster healthy BMI is needed and should be tailored to specific 23 social and economic circumstances in Europe. 24 25 Poverty and social exclusion and weight status 2

Low muscle strength, high body mass index, and low bone mineral density among adult Special Olympics athletes in the United States in 2018-2019

“…Increasing age was significantly associated with the presence of high BMI. This relationship has consistently been observed in both international and North American SO athletes (Foley et al, 2013;Foley et al, 2017;Rintala et al, 2017;Temple et al, 2014). Furthermore, 50.3% of the sample in the present study exhibited high BMI, comparable to obesity rates among SO athletes in the U.S. (Foley et al, 2013) and North America (Temple et al, 2014).…”

“…Research utilizing this dataset have consistently shown SO athletes to exhibit high rates of obesity (Foley et al, 2013;Foley et al, 2017;Rintala et al, 2017;Temple et al, 2014). Older age and sex (i.e., being female) have consistently been associated with obesity in SO athletes in North America (Foley et al, 2013;Temple et al, 2014) and internationally (Foley et al, 2017;Rintala et al, 2017). Furthermore, both male and female athletes exhibit higher rates of obesity than adults in the general population in the U.S. (Foley et al, 2013).…”

“…Low grip strength, one indicator of sarcopenia, has been reported in both male and female Special Olympics (SO) athletes (Cuesta-Vargas & Hilgenkamp, 2015;O'Connell et al, 2006;Santarossa et al, 2017), with grip strength levels comparable to cut-offs for low muscle strength in older adults in the general population (Cuesta-Vargas & Hilgenkamp, 2015). High rates of obesity (Foley et al, 2013;Foley et al, 2017;Rintala et al, 2017;Temple et al, 2014) and osteopenia (Special Olympics International, 2018 have also been reported in SO athletes. However, a large-scale analysis of indicators of sarcopenia in SO athletes is absent from the literature.…”

Obesity in youth and adults with intellectual disability in Europe and Eurasia

“…The health information gathered on individual athletes has been aggregated into the world's largest dataset focused on the health of people with intellectual disabilities (Lloyd, Foley, & Temple, ). Preliminary analyses by Rintala, Temple, Lloyd, Faro, and Foley () have demonstrated the feasibility of using this data to address issues of obesity in a European context.…”

Physical Activity Frequency of Special Olympic Athletes Ages 8-18 Across Economic Status

“…SOI has been hosting free Healthy Athlete screenings at local, national and international competitions (Lloyd, Temple, & Foley, 2012;. Gathering of such data has been integral in the investigation of the health status of participating athletes and has allowed researchers to analyze this population in hopes of initiating interventions to increase healthy behaviors (Rintala, Temple, Lloyd, Faro, & Foley, 2017). The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity frequency of children and youth with ID who participate in Special Olympics across economic status.…”