title: Children's perception on obesity and quality of life: a Mexican survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Child obesity has become a major health problem worldwide. In order to design successful intervention strategies, it is necessary to understand how children perceive obesity and its consequences.
  
  
  METHODS
  With the aim to evaluate scholar children perception of obesity as a significant factor on the quality of life, we developed and validated the "Obesity impact on the quality of life perception-questionnaire" (ObI-Q). We surveyed 1335 healthy children aged 6-12 years, randomly selected from elementary schools in Mexico City. The ObI-Q comprises eight multiple-choice items that explore aspects related to the quality of life during adult life; such as health, life span, emotional status, lifestyle, social recognition and economic status. In order to identify perceptional modifier factors, results were analyzed through multivariable logistic regression. Variables included gender, age, and child nutritional status, as well as the child's perception of parental nutritional status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ObI-Q results showed that most children (64.71%) considered obesity as a negative condition that influences health and social performance. This perception was inversely related to age (OR = 0.64, p = 0.003), as well as to the perception of their mother nutritional status (OR = 0.47, p = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides an overview of children's perception on obesity and its consequences. Because the high proportion of schoolchildren who do not view obesity as an adverse consequence to the quality of life, then the results of this study could be used as part of strategies for the prevention of overweight and obesity.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, UMAE Hospital de Pediatría, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Cuauhtémoc 330 Colonia Doctores, México, D,F, CP 06720, México. drmariorendon@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mario-Enrique
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Rendón-Macías
authors.forename: Haydeé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rosas-Vargas
authors.forename: Miguel-Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Villasís-Keever
authors.forename: Celia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez-García
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010290:Parents; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires