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. 2016 Apr;19(5):796-803.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980015002074. Epub 2015 Jul 24.

Impaired quality of life in treatment-seeking obese children of Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish and Surinamese descent

Nalini N E Radhakishun  1 , Maartje de Wit  2 , Mariska van Vliet  3 , Ines A von Rosenstiel  1 , Jos H Beijnen  4 , Dees P M Brandjes  5 , Michaela Diamant  6
Affiliations

Impaired quality of life in treatment-seeking obese children of Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish and Surinamese descent

Nalini N E Radhakishun et al. Public Health Nutr. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of overweight and obese multi-ethnic children compared with normal-weight children; and to investigate differences in HRQOL between self- and parent-proxy reports and ethnic groups.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: Out-patient clinic where children and their parents filled out a validated HRQOL questionnaire (KIDSCREEN-52) and height, weight, waist circumference and fat percentage were measured.

Subjects: Overweight and obese children, aged 8-18 years (mean BMI Z-score 3·2 (sd 0·6)), from the obesity out-patient clinic.

Results: Three hundred and eight self- and 213 parent-proxy reported questionnaires were completed. Global HRQOL and the Physical Wellbeing, Moods & Emotions and Self-Perception subscales were markedly reduced in our multi-ethnic obese cohort, relative to the Dutch reference values. Parent proxies reported significantly lower on the global HRQOL and the Physical Wellbeing, Moods & Emotions and Bullying subscales. In Caucasian children, multivariate analyses showed that BMI was associated with the quality-of-life subscales Moods & Emotions, Self-Perception and Bullying.

Conclusions: HRQOL was markedly reduced in our multi-ethnic overweight and obese out-patient clinic cohort, with significantly lower parent-proxy scores compared with self-reported scores. We believe intervention programmes aiming to improve HRQOL should be directed to both parents and children, while ethnic-specific programmes to enhance HRQOL seem of less importance.

Keywords: Ethnicity; Obesity; Parent; Quality of life.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Self-reported (formula image) and parent-proxy reported (formula image) health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores, global and across the subscales of the KIDSCREEN questionnaire, among overweight and obese children aged 8–18 years and their parents from an obesity out-patient clinic, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2012–2013. Differences tested by paired-samples t tests: *P<0·05, **P<0·01, ***P<0·001
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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