Weight assessment and possible risk of diabetes among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Moiniafshari K, Jafarabadi GS, Salimian G and Nezhad H

Published on: 2023-11-17

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder has gained a growing trend, which can affect an individual’s quality of life. Individuals with ASD may have several health problems during their lives, including overweight, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease, which may decrease their quality of life and life expectancy. There are inconsistent results about the weight status among individuals with ASD, as some results have indicated a normal weight status, despite some other assessments indicating a higher prevalence of overweight and/or obesity among ASD individuals. As overweight and obesity are important causes of many chronic diseases, the purpose of this assessment was to assess the weight status of randomly selected participants and compare it with the standard reference, which was the weight-for-age CDC chart. The results from this assessment indicated that the participant’s weight was higher according to the CDC chart for their age, which increased their concern for their future health.