Health-related Quality of Life in Children under Treatment for Overweight, Obesity or Severe Obesity: a cross-sectional study in the Netherlands

Abstract

Background It is unknown whether weight class is associated with impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for children in the Netherlands. The aim of this study was to explore generic and weight-specific HRQOL in a clinical cohort of children with overweight, obesity or severe obesity aged 4–19 years in the Netherlands. Methods 803 children from three clinical cohorts participated: mean age 11.5 (SD 2.9) years, 61.1% girls. The influence of weight class was explored in a subgroup of 425 children (25.2% with overweight, 32.5% obesity and 42.3% severe obesity), of whom the exact International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) BMI class was known. Generic HRQOL was measured by the PedsQL child report. Weight-specific HRQOL was measured by the IWQOL-Kids child or parent report. Average total, subscale and item scores were reported and the influence of the IOTF BMI class analyzed by multiple linear regression, corrected for age and sex. Results Children with severe obesity had lower generic and weight-specific HRQOL scores than those with obesity or overweight. IOTF BMI class was negatively associated with item scores from all subscales, especially physical, social and emotional problems. Children with overweight reported similar HRQOL total, subscale and item scores to children with obesity.

The development of the Dutch “National model integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity”

“…In 2016-2018, when working on developing the national model and the accompanying tool and instruments for local realisation, the team of Care for Obesity (partly the authors of this article) also worked on several related work streams regarding HRQOL [30,32], weight stigma and self-efficacy of healthcare professionals [33,34], discussing weight and lifestyle with children and their parents (and caregivers) [35,36], combined lifestyle interventions [37,38], and integration of prevention and care [23]. The authors participating in taking on the task of the national model consisted of the national project manager of Care for Obesity (JH), a dedicated project lead (MS), a senior project worker (JS), a junior project worker (LWK) and a senior adviser (JCS).…”

“…The webtool was implemented, evaluated and improved [72]. A factsheet [73] based on research [32] on quality of life in treatment-seeking children with overweight, obesity and severe obesity was published Booklet on discussing weight and lifestyle with children and parents a,b…”