Health-related Physical Fitness, Blood Pressure, and Body Mass Index among People with Intellectual Disability, Visual Impairment, and Hearing Impairment

PURPOSE A low physical fitness level is one of the major health problems to be addressed among people with disabilities; this issue has not been spotlighted much in the public. This study was performed to determine the health-related physical fitness (HRPF) and blood pressure of people with intellectual disability (ID), visual impairment (VI), and hearing impairment (HI) and the differences in these parameters according to each type of disability and its severity. METHODS Data of 11,802 participants with ID, VI, and HI who underwent standard physical fitness tests were analyzed. Differences in the proportion of participants with high blood pressure (HBP), body mass index (BMI) group, and HRPF parameters according to the severity of each type of disability were analyzed using the χ2 test or one-way analysis of variance. The odds ratio for HBP after adjustments for age, sex, severity of disability, and BMI group was also analyzed using multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS There were significant differences in all HRPF parameters according to the disability type as well as the severity of disability in each group of individuals with ID, VI, and HI. Those with ID had the lowest values in the hand grip strength, sit-up, and sit-and-reach tests, and these values were significantly lower in the most severely disabled group for individuals with ID. The odds ratio for HBP was 1.211 (95% confidence interval: 1.069–1.371) for grade 1 ID. CONCLUSIONS Participants with ID had generally lower HRPF parameter values than those of participants with VI and HI. In addition, significant differences in HRPF parameter values, the proportion of participants with HBP, and BMI were found among participants with disabilities according to the severity of their disability, indicating opportunities for improving the health in these groups.