Abstract
We assessed the association between body mass index (BMI) and sensory processing in 445 Spanish children aged 3–7 from the InProS project. Child sensory processing was measured using the short sensory profile (SSP); an atypical sensory performance was defined as an SSP total score <155 and scores of tactile sensitivity <30; taste/smell sensitivity <15; movement sensitivity <13; under-responsive/seeks sensation <27; auditory filtering <23; low energy/weak <26; and visual/auditory sensitivity <19. The BMI was calculated according to the cutoffs by the World Health Organization for children aged 0–5 and 5–19 years. We used multiple Poisson regression models with robust variance to obtain prevalence ratios (PR). No associations between children’s overweight and obesity and the prevalence of atypical sensory outcomes were observed. A one-point increase in BMI was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of atypical tactile sensitivity (PR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.02; 1.12). A statistically marginal association was also observed for atypical total SSP (PR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00; 1.07) and atypical movement sensitivity (PR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00; 1.10). To our knowledge, this is the first time the association between children’s BMI and sensory processing has been reported. Our findings suggest that sensory processing issues may play a part in the complex context of childhood obesity. Further research is required to confirm these findings.
Highlights
Sensory processing problems may manifest themselves in an impairment of responses to, processing of, and/or organization of sensory information
This work shows that almost a third of Spanish preschool and school-age children participants in this study presented an atypical sensory performance according to the sensory profile (SSP) total score
Our estimates confirm that childhood obesity remains a crucial public health challenge, they show that sensory processing issues may be a health concern affecting the lives of a considerable proportion of children from the general population
Summary
Sensory processing problems may manifest themselves in an impairment of responses to, processing of, and/or organization of sensory information. The interest in exploring this relationship has gained considerable importance because of two main aspects: first, the process of eating involves integrating sensory domains that trigger individual sensitivity responses to food characteristics [9,12]; and second, early childhood is a critical period of life for establishing food preferences and developing sensory food aversion, which can prompt one to reject certain foods with particular tastes, textures, smells, or appearances [13] In this regard, there is evidence that child feeding problems such as neophobia, picky eating, and/or other problematic eating behaviors have been associated with less healthy food choices that include a reduced intake of fruits, vegetables, and protein foods [7,14,15,16,17]. From the perspective of potential health consequences, it is known that an unbalanced diet during childhood can have short-term and long-term effects on children’s health and development, leading to detrimental metabolic outcomes and chronic diseases such as obesity [18,19,20,21,22,23]
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