Quality of life in Mexican-American children following a weight management program.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to evaluate quality of life (QOL) in at-risk-for-overweight and overweight Mexican-American children after participating in 6 months of intensive weight management or self-help.


METHODS
Eighty sixth- and seventh-grade at-risk-for-overweight (BMI >or=85th to <95th percentile) and overweight (BMI >or=95th percentile) Mexican-American children were randomly assigned to either intensive instructor-led intervention (ILI) or self-help (SH). The ILI condition included daily participation for 12 weeks in a school-based program comprised of nutrition education, physical activity, and behavior modification, followed by ongoing monthly maintenance. QOL was assessed at baseline and 6 months via child self-report PedsQL. QOL outcomes were compared across treatment groups, and the impact of change in zBMI on change in QOL was evaluated.


RESULTS
Children in the ILI condition not only achieved significantly greater weight loss (zBMI, -0.13 +/- 0.14; p < 0.001) but also significantly greater physical QOL improvements than those in the SH condition at 6 months (p < 0.05). Furthermore, physical QOL increases were associated with zBMI reduction (p < 0.05). However, neither psychosocial nor total QOL was significantly impacted by intervention or zBMI change.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings show that even modest decreases in zBMI after weight management result in improved physical QOL in Mexican-American children. These results illustrate the clear need to include evaluation of QOL in the process of identifying effective weight management programs.
Fullerton
Ginny
G
Department of Pediatrics-Nutrition, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Tyler
Chermaine
C
Johnston
Craig A
CA
Vincent
John P
JP
Harris
Gerald E
GE
Foreyt
John P
JP
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences; D019468:Disease Management; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000208:ethnology; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012574:Schools; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss