Abstract
IntroductionHealth related quality of life is a multi-dimensional construct of particular interest in determining the consequences of illness and disease. This study aimed to determine the relationships between overweight/obesity, and associated obesogenic risk behaviours with health related quality of life and physical, social, emotional and school sub-domains, among a large cohort of Australian primary school children.MethodsThe data were derived from the Goulburn Valley Health Behaviours Monitoring study whereby a census-styled school recruitment process and high participatory opt-out (passive) procedure was employed. All primary schools in three Local Government Areas were invited to participate between July-September 2016 with 39/62 (62%) of schools participating and 1606/2034 (79%) students in Grade 2 (aged approx. 7-8 years), Grade 4 (aged approx. 9-10 years) and Grade 6 (aged approx. 11-12 years) participating. Measured height and weight were collected among participating students and older children (Grade 4 and 6) who also completed a self-report behavioural questionnaire, including the paediatric quality of life inventory.ResultsAmong 809 children aged 9 to 12 years, there were 219 (27.1%) classified as overweight/obese. Male children classified as overweight/obese reported significantly lower health related quality of life in the physical functioning and global functioning scores, compared to normal weight males. Significantly higher quality of life scores were observed among all children who met the physical activity recommendations on five out of the seven previous days. Significantly higher scores were observed among males adhering to the daily screen time recommendations, and among those meeting daily recommendations for fruit consumption. Among male school children, soft drink consumption was associated to lower health related quality of life.ConclusionAlthough cross-sectional, these findings highlight children with overweight/obesity and some underlying lifestyle behavioural risk factors, had significantly lower healthy-related quality of life, although this was observed most consistently among male school children. These findings have not previously been identified in young children and highlights the need to consider mental and emotional health in public health efforts to prevent obesity.Trial RegistrationANZCTR Trial Registry: ACTRN12616000980437 retrospectively registered 26 July 2016
Highlights
Health related quality of life is a multi-dimensional construct of particular interest in determining the consequences of illness and disease
Of the 62 schools invited to participate in the Goulburn Valley Health Behaviours Monitoring Study (GVHBMS), 39 schools (62%) consented and were subsequently included in the baseline (2016) data collection wave
Obesogenic risk behaviours, except for vegetable consumption, were all significantly associated to Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among males
Summary
Health related quality of life is a multi-dimensional construct of particular interest in determining the consequences of illness and disease. This study aimed to determine the relationships between overweight/obesity, and associated obesogenic risk behaviours with health related quality of life and physical, social, emotional and school sub-domains, among a large cohort of Australian primary school children. There are known physiological links between behaviours underpinning obesity such as diet, physical inactivity and psycho-social health, these relationships are assumed to be bi-directional [12]. These relationships are of critical importance during childhood, as it is during this development life period that lifestyle habits are formed, and overweight/obesity and psychosocial-related problems often first occur that track into adolescence and adulthood [13, 14]
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