Identifying characteristics and outcomes in youth with obesity and developmental disabilities.

Abstract Background Youth with developmental disability are at increased risk of obesity; literature focusing on the two is rare. Objective To identify characteristics and outcomes of youth presenting for obesity care having a disability as compared to without. Methods A medical record review of youth aged 2-18 years initiating obesity care 2013-2015 at a tertiary care obesity management program. Youth were grouped by disability status to identify differences in presenting characteristics and factors associated with a reduction in body mass index (BMI) percent of the 95th BMI percentile (BMIp95) over 12 months. Logistic regression (LR) models examined associations with BMIp95 drop ( Results Of 887 subjects, 253 (28.5%) had a disability. At presentation, youth with disability were more often (p Conclusion Youth with developmental disabilities were as successful in obesity care as those without disabilities. Predictors of success differed between the groups.