Samenvatting

Background: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neuro-developmental disorder that is characterized by fine and/or gross motor coordination problems that are not the result of any neurological condition or intellectual disability and interfere significantly with academic achievement r activities of daily living. Children with DCD find themselves to be less competent than typically developing (TD) children with regard to their physical abilities, often experience failure and have a higher risk of sustaining injuries. As a result, children with DCD are more likely to avoid participation
in physical activities. Physical inactivity is considered to be an important risk factor for developing overweight and obesity.
Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to assess whether children with DCD are at greater
risk of developing overweight and obesity than their TD peers, and whether sex and age are predictor variables.
Method: Six major electronic databases were systematically searched to identify studies containing
data on body composition in children with DCD. Acceptable outcome measures included BMI(weight o height), body fat (in mass or percentage), and waist circumference. Acceptable DCD assessment ools were MABC, MABC-2, BOTMP and BOTMP-SF. The title and abstract of all studies from the search were judged for relevance. Remaining studies were subjected to full paper review. The quality f included papers was assessed and relevant data were extracted for comparison.
Results: The search yielded 180 results, of which 14 studies were included. All were observational studies, made up of cross-sectional designs (n=11) and prospective cohorts (n=3). Participants' ages anged from 4 to 14 years(y). Only 3 studies contained children below 9y and only 1 of these included children under 6. All studies reported that children with DCD had higher BMI scores, larger waist circumference (WC) and greater percentage body fat compared to controls. Between group differences were found significant for one or more outcome measures by 12 studies. Gender effects ere assessed by 8 studies and 7 found no significant difference. The effect of age was assessed by everal studies containing only children > 9y and was not found significant. 1 study found no ignificant difference for children aged 4 to 9y, but did for 10 to 12 year olds.
Conclusion: Children with DCD are likely to be at greater risk for both overweight and obesity, regardless of gender. This increased risk may not become apparent before a certain age, however more research is needed to confirm this.