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Body mass index in male and female children with pervasive developmental disorders
Author(s) -
Mouridsen Svend E.,
Rich Bente,
Isager Torben
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-200x.2008.02618.x
Subject(s) - medicine , body mass index , percentile , autism , pediatrics , endophenotype , population , overweight , demography , psychiatry , cognition , environmental health , statistics , mathematics , sociology
Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate body mass index (BMI) of children with a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) attending two university clinics during the 1960–84 period. Methods: BMI derived from medical records of 83 consecutively admitted children with atypical autism and 115 children with Asperger syndrome were compared with the corresponding BMI percentiles in an age‐ and sex‐matched reference population. Results: The BMI distribution of the boys, but not the girls, in both diagnostic categories was significantly lower than those of the age‐matched reference populations. Approximately 15% of the boys had a BMI below the fifth percentile. Conclusions: The present findings are comparable to the results of other studies. Particular attention is given to low BMI as a potential endophenotype in boys with PDD.