Physical Fitness and Health-Related Physical Activity Programs in People With Down Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: Down Syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic disease in people with intellectual disability, with a prevalence of 1 in 800-1000 live births. Youth and adolescents with DS are a unique population in terms of health-related physical fitness factors. Methods: In this review study, to investigate the physical fitness factors and physical activity programs for youth and adolescents with DS, a search was conducted in international and national databases such as EBSCO, Medline, PubMed, Elsevier, Google Scholar and SID among studies conducted during 1996-2016 using following keywords in Persian and English: Physical fitness, physical activity, Down syndrome, rehabilitation, intellectual disability, muscular strength, muscular endurance, aerobic fitness, balance, agility and flexibility. Results: Initial search yielded 130 articles. After removing duplicates, 35 were remained for the review. The studies indicated lower cardiorespiratory capacity and physical fitness in people with DS than in their normal peers in strength, endurance, balance and agility as well as increased subcutaneous fat and body fat distribution. Conclusion: Adolescents and youth with DS have low cardiovascular and muscular capacity and physical fitness, overweight/obesity, and reduces health-related physical activities. Future studies should focus on strength testing and training protocols, methods for determining physical activity levels, and practical interventions to increase physical activities in DS patients.