Health-related quality of life of severely obese children and adolescents.
BACKGROUND
One in 7 US children and adolescents is obese, yet little is known about their health-related quality of life (QOL).


OBJECTIVE
To examine the health-related QOL of obese children and adolescents compared with children and adolescents who are healthy or those diagnosed as having cancer.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of 106 children and adolescents (57 males) between the ages of 5 and 18 years (mean [SD], 12.1 [3] years), who had been referred to an academic children's hospital for evaluation of obesity between January and June 2002. Children and adolescents had a mean (SD) body mass index (BMI) of 34.7 (9.3) and BMI z score of 2.6 (0.5).


METHODS
Child self-report and parent proxy report using a pediatric QOL inventory generic core scale (range, 0-100). The inventory was administered by an interviewer for children aged 5 through 7 years. Scores were compared with previously published scores for healthy children and adolescents and children and adolescents diagnosed as having cancer.


RESULTS
Compared with healthy children and adolescents, obese children and adolescents reported significantly (P<.001) lower health-related QOL in all domains (mean [SD] total score, 67 [16.3] for obese children and adolescents; 83 [14.8] for healthy children and adolescents). Obese children and adolescents were more likely to have impaired health-related QOL than healthy children and adolescents (odds ratio [OR], 5.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.4-8.7) and were similar to children and adolescents diagnosed as having cancer (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.8-2.3). Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea reported a significantly lower health-related QOL total score (mean [SD], 53.8 [13.3]) than obese children and adolescents without obstructive sleep apnea (mean [SD], 67.9 [16.2]). For parent proxy report, the child or adolescent's BMI z score was significantly inversely correlated with total score (r = -0.246; P =.01), physical functioning (r = -0.263; P<.01), social functioning (r = -0.347; P<.001), and psychosocial functioning (r = -0.209; P =.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Severely obese children and adolescents have lower health-related QOL than children and adolescents who are healthy and similar QOL as those diagnosed as having cancer. Physicians, parents, and teachers need to be informed of the risk for impaired health-related QOL among obese children and adolescents to target interventions that could enhance health outcomes.
Schwimmer
Jeffrey B
JB
Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego 92103, USA. jschwimmer@ucsd.edu
Burwinkle
Tasha M
TM
Varni
James W
JW
D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life