Feasibility and applicability of Evenson sedentary behavior cut points applied to children with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities

Abstract

Aim

Sedentary behavior (SB) is widely studied as it is associated with cardiometabolic health and obesity issues. However, children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) have been understudied. Accelerometers are commonly used to measure SB in typically developing populations but may be inappropriate for IDD populations due to differences in body movement and physiologic responses to the activity. The use of Evenson sedentary cut-points, created based on typically developing children, has yet to be applied and/or examined in children with IDD.

Purpose

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to (1) Assess the feasibility of applying Evenson sedentary cut-points in children with IDD (2) Describe SB over a two-week period between diagnosis groups.

Methods

The SB of 22 participants (8 children with Down syndrome, 6 children with spina bifida, 8 children with no chronic illness) was assessed on two separate occasions: (1) during a 7-minute sedentary protocol, and (2) over a two-week period.

Results

The study supports the preliminary efficacy of using Evenson cut-points for this population, with 100% of participants being within the Evenson counts per minute (0–100 cpm) during the 7-minute sedentary protocol. The total volume of SB over a two-week period was not significantly different between diagnosis groups (8.8 h, 8.6 h, and 7.1 h of SB for children with Down syndrome, spina bifida, or those with no chronic illness, respectively; p = 0.36).

Conclusions

Evenson sedentary cut-points can be used for children with IDD. Preliminary data suggest that children with IDD do not engage in significantly different SB than children without a chronic illness. Further study is warranted.

Implications for rehabilitation

• Objective measures of physical activity and sedentary behavior for children with Down syndrome or spina bifida are rarely used due to potential differences in body movement (e.g., gait) during ambulation compared to typically developing peers that may influence the accuracy of cut-points.

• This study supports that Evenson sedentary cut-points can be used in children with Down syndrome or spina bifida to assess sedentary activity.

• Preliminary findings from this study demonstrate similarities in patterns of sedentary behaviors exhibited by our sample of children with Down syndrome, spina bifida, or no chronic illness.

Keywords:

• Down syndrome
• spina bifida
• accelerometer
• oxygen consumption
• special needs

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank the children and families who participated in this study and nurses at the Pediatric Translational Research Unit who helped with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Nursing Research (NINR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number [P20NR015339]. Additional support for this project was provided in part by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health [Award Number 8UL1TR000055]. The content is solely the responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. In addition, the project was funded in part by the Research and Education Program Fund, a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin.