Anagha Killedar1, Thomas Lung2,3, Stavros Petrou4,5, Armando Teixeira-Pinto2, Eng Joo Tan2, Alison Hayes2. 1. The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Public Health, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. anagha.killedar@sydney.edu.au. 2. The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Public Health, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. 3. The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2042, Australia. 4. Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. 5. Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity in children is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but the nuances of this relationship across different age and socio-demographic groups are not well-established. The aim of this study is to examine how the association between weight status and HRQoL changes with age and socioeconomic position (SEP) throughout childhood and adolescence. METHODS: We used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a cohort study in which children were interviewed biennially from ages 4 to 17 years over seven waves of data. Measurements of HRQoL (using PedsQLTM), body mass index (BMI), and socio-demographic characteristics were collected at each interview. Of the 4983 children recruited into the study, we included data from 4083 children (a total of 24,446 observations). We used generalised estimating equations to assess whether age and SEP modified the association between weight status and HRQoL, after controlling for sex, long-term medical condition, language spoken to child and maternal smoking status. RESULTS: Age was a significant modifier of the association between weight status and HRQoL, with adjustment for known predictors of HRQoL (P < 0.001). At age 4, children with obesity had, on average, a 0.99 (95% CI 0.02-1.96) point lower PedsQL total score than children at healthy weight. This difference became clinically important by age 9 at 4.50 (95% CI 3.86-5.13) points and increased to 6.69 (95% CI 5.74-7.64) points by age 17. There was no evidence that SEP modified the relationship between weight status and HRQoL (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the relationship between overweight and obesity status and poor HRQoL is strengthened with increasing age through childhood and adolescence, but is not affected by SEP. Paediatricians, researchers and carers of children with obesity should acknowledge HRQoL outcomes, particularly for older children and adolescents.
BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity in children is associated with poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), but the nuances of this relationship across different age and socio-demographic groups are not well-established. The aim of this study is to examine how the association between weight status and HRQoL changes with age and socioeconomic position (SEP) throughout childhood and adolescence. METHODS: We used data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a cohort study in which children were interviewed biennially from ages 4 to 17 years over seven waves of data. Measurements of HRQoL (using PedsQLTM), body mass index (BMI), and socio-demographic characteristics were collected at each interview. Of the 4983 children recruited into the study, we included data from 4083 children (a total of 24,446 observations). We used generalised estimating equations to assess whether age and SEP modified the association between weight status and HRQoL, after controlling for sex, long-term medical condition, language spoken to child and maternal smoking status. RESULTS: Age was a significant modifier of the association between weight status and HRQoL, with adjustment for known predictors of HRQoL (P < 0.001). At age 4, children with obesity had, on average, a 0.99 (95% CI 0.02-1.96) point lower PedsQL total score than children at healthy weight. This difference became clinically important by age 9 at 4.50 (95% CI 3.86-5.13) points and increased to 6.69 (95% CI 5.74-7.64) points by age 17. There was no evidence that SEP modified the relationship between weight status and HRQoL (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the relationship between overweight and obesity status and poor HRQoL is strengthened with increasing age through childhood and adolescence, but is not affected by SEP. Paediatricians, researchers and carers of children with obesity should acknowledge HRQoL outcomes, particularly for older children and adolescents.
Authors: Mila S Welling; Ozair Abawi; Emma van den Eynde; Elisabeth F C van Rossum; Jutka Halberstadt; Annelies E Brandsma; Lotte Kleinendorst; Erica L T van den Akker; Bibian van der Voorn Journal: Obes Facts Date: 2021-11-05 Impact factor: 4.807
Authors: Mandana Zanganeh; Peymané Adab; Bai Li; Miranda Pallan; Wei J Liu; Lin Rong; Wei Liu; James Martin; Kar K Cheng; Emma Frew Journal: J Health Econ Outcomes Res Date: 2022-03-07
Authors: Ozair Abawi; Mila S Welling; Emma van den Eynde; Elisabeth F C van Rossum; Jutka Halberstadt; Erica L T van den Akker; Bibian van der Voorn Journal: Clin Obes Date: 2020-09-13