Introduction: Overweight and obesity have emerged as significant global health concerns among children. Previous studies have provided evidence that children with intellectual and learning disabilities (LD) are at a higher risk of obesity compared to their peers without disabilities. Methods: This study aimed to predict body weight status of children with LD who attended Special Education Integration Program in Kelantan, located on East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Parents completed a self-administered questionnaire in Malay language, which included “Screening Tool of Feeding Problems” children’s version (STEP-CHILD) and Comprehensive Feeding Practice Questionnaire (CFPQ). The children’s body weight and height were measured to determine body mass index (BMI). Research hypothesis was tested through stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Results: This study recruited 245 subjects with mean age of 10.5±1.7 years and mean BMI of 18.5±4.9 kg/m2. Prevalence of underweight, thinness and severe thinness was 12.2%, while overweight and obesity was 29.0%. Male children with LD (β=0.109, p<0.044), older age (β=0.226, p<0.001), higher child birth weight (β=0.119, p<0.029), lack of parental modelling (β=-0.170, p=0.004), lower parental pressure (β=-0.266, p<0.001), and higher restriction for weight control (β=0.361, p<0.001) were found to predict higher BMI values. Conclusion: Positive parental feeding practices during mealtime are crucial for addressing the poor nutritional status of children with LD.

Introduction: Children with intellectual disability (ID) have higher probability of experiencing poor health status due to their limited ability to understand and assess information about nutrition and health. Malnutrition remains a significant health problem as it is prevalent among both typically developing and disabled children. This scoping review aims to discuss the prevalence of malnutrition among children and adolescents with ID in Asian countries. Methods: The review was based on the PRISMA-ScR method. A systematic electronic search was conducted using databases namely PUBMED, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar for articles published from 2006-2019, written in English and involved studies in Asian countries. Results: A total of 255,100 article’s titles were identified and only 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included for further analysis. The findings revealed that the range of prevalence for underweight was 5.7%-76.3% and 28.9%-45.0% for stunting. The prevalence estimated for overweight was 3.9%-46.6%, while obesity was 1.6%- 26.6%. The body mass index values ranged from 17.4±4.3kg/m2-23.0±6.3kg/m2. There were several risk factors related to malnutrition such as co-morbidity factors, behavioural factors, and parental factors. Conclusion: This review demonstrated concern regarding the prevalence of malnutrition among children and adolescents with ID, which is high in certain Asian countries. It was varied and thus difficult to compare due to different reference standards and definitions used for malnutrition. Establishing nutrition and health-related intervention programmes can help to prevent further rise in the prevalence of malnutrition in this group.