ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADOLESCENTS: A POPULATION BASED STUDY

Background: Obesity is one of the most chronic disorders in childhood and its prevalence continues to increase rapidly. Although there is a growing awareness of the long-term health implications of obesity in children and adolescents, the more widespread psychosocial effects of childhood obesity often go unaddressed by paediatricians. The negative effects of childhood obesity on Quality of Life (QOL) have been shown in clinical samples, but, so far, a limited number of population based studies assessing HRQOL in juvenile obesity have been performed, most of them reporting lower general and physical health in obese children as compared to normal weight controls. Objective: to explore the association between HRQOL and BMI in a school-based adolescents population using the Italian EQ-5D Child version (in validation stage) as a generic measures for HRQOL. Methods: We included for the 1st time the Italian EQ-5D Child version questionnaire inside a cross-sectional regional nutritional surveillance study aimed to assess eating habits in a children population. Data on nutritional habits, HRQOL and BMI (calculated from measured weight and height) were collected referring to a subsample of 13-years old children. Results: Overweight and obesity impacts on Health Related Quality of Life. Analysis results suggest that Body Mass Index (BMI) is linked to the assessments of physical domain of general HRQOL. Particularly, in mobility domain and everyday activities adolescent classified as at risk of overweight, overweight and obese reported worse perceived health than normal and underweight subjects.