Understanding The Effects of Visual Impairment on Body Composition in Children
Click the Poster to View Full Screen, Right click to save image
Michelle Manochio
CoPIs:
Alexandra Stribing, Adam Eckart
College:
The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major:
Exercise Science
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Pragya Sharma Ghimire
Abstract:
Childhood and adolescent obesity are at an all-time high, especially in the United States as well as other countries around the world. Many factors cause childhood and adolescent obesity. One factor that has grown popular in research within the last several years is the interaction between visual impairment and body mass index (BMI) in children and adolescents. Previous research has shown that there is a correlation between visual impairment and BMI; specifically, children and adolescents with visual impairments tend to have a higher BMI than their peers without visual impairments. This study explores the complex relationship between BMI and visual impairment, considering a range of demographic and health-related factors such as age, sex, race, multiple disabilities, congenital nature of disabilities, level of visual impairment, and education level. In this non-randomized cross-sectional study, 74 school-aged students from multiple schools, ages 10-17, participated. The participant’s height and weight were measured, and questionnaires related to race, various disabilities, and level of education were collected. An Independent Sample t-test was used to compare BMI between two age cohorts (10-13 years) and (14-17 years). There was a significant difference found between these two groups (p=0.04). However, no significant differences were found between sex, race, level of visual impairment, and education levels. Further investigation using a larger sample size is needed to understand the relationship between visual impairment and BMI in children and adolescents.