The Utility of Anthropometric Assessment at Institutions and Schools for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and/or Motor Disabilities : A Nation-Wide Survey in Japan

Objectives To obtain information regarding the actual methods used for nutritional assessment at institutions and schools in order to establish a nutritional assessment method for individuals with disabilities Methods Questionnaires were sent to 1,080 selected institutions and schools for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) and/or motor disabilities (MD) The response rate was 76 5% Results The implementation rates for height and weight measurements were generally very high at both institutions and schools for individuals with ID and/or MD (85 5-100%), but those for other items were very low and varied among different disability types The implementation rate for BMI was 17 9-71 9%, demonstrating that BMI was not widely used among institutions and schools for individuals with ID and/or MD As for the methods for calculating percent body fat, a high percentage of institutions and schools for individuals with ID and/or MD indicated the use of bioelectrical impedance analysis for most disability types (60 - 77 9%) Conclusions The percentages of institutions for individuals with ID and/or MD and of schools for individuals with ID and/or MD that implement nutritional assessment are very low, with variations among different disability types