Pain, Physical Activity, and Activities of Daily Living among Children with Developmental Disability

The purpose of this study was to examine data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2016-2020) to explore the associations among pain, physical activity (PA), and motor skill performance among children with developmental disabilities (DD) and typically developing children (TDC). Among 174,551 respondents, we identified 15,382 children with a DD and 35,960 TDC. Children aged 6-17 were included in the sample. Variables included: (a) experiencing chronic pain within the past 12 months, (b) daily PA, (c) and motor skill deficits (difficulty dressing or bathing, deficits in upper extremity function, or lack of coordination). Age, income, sex, and race were included as covariates. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses were then employed. Few children with a DD (19.9%) and TDC (20.6%) were likely engage in daily PA. Additionally, 17.9% of children with DD reported having physical pain compared to 10.53% of TDC. Compared to TDC,children with a DD were 42% less likely to engage in daily PA (p<0.0001). The odds of having motor skill deficits were 46.3 times higher in children with DD compared to TDC (p,0.0001). Among children with a DD, those who reported physical pain were 32% less likely to engage in daily PA (p<0.0001). Children with a DD who reported pain were 2.17 times less likely to have motor skill deficits (p<0.0001). Community-based interventions to improve PA while managing pain are needed for children with DD.