Quality of Life in Healthy Children in Latvia

Abstract

In Latvia, no studies on the quality of life (QoL) of healthy children have been conducted. Determining the quality of life of children is an essential part of evaluating the health status of children. The subjective assessment of the individuals about their quality of life provides an opportunity to evaluate the quality of life of the population in the public health sector. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the quality of life of healthy children and adolescents in Latvia in the age group from 8 to 18, as well as to compare the answers between children and their parents living in Latvia. This study also gave an opportunity to compare the results of children and their parents living in Europe. Quality of life measurements were obtained using the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire, which was filled out by 100 healthy children/adolescents and 100 of their parents/guardians. The quality-of-life questionnaire consisted of ten dimensions. When evaluating the quality of life of children and adolescents by gender, no statistically significant difference was found in Latvia (p > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) between children of 8 to 11 years of age and children of 12 to 18 years of age. A statistically significant difference was found between the 8 to 11 and 12 to 18-year-old groups of young healthy children in some dimensions. In the response dimensions, self-perception (“SEL”) and emotions (“EMO”), their QoL was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the age group from 12 to 18 years healthy children than in the age group of 8 to 11 years. Differences in child/adolescent quality of life results between Latvia and Europe were not statistically significantly different in all 10 HRQoL dimensions (p > 0.05).