Parental perception of child health status and quality of life associated with overweight and obesity in early childhood

Purpose: The aim was to assess perceived health status and health-related quality of life (HRQL) according to persistence of and variation in weight status among children from the age of 4 to 6 years.

Methods: Longitudinal study of 1883 participants in the ELOIN cohort (Madrid Region, Spain), with physical examination at ages 4 and 6 years. Perceived health status and HRQL were assessed using parent-reported Kidscreen-10 scores, with excess weight being defined on the basis of body mass index (BMI) using the WHO reference tables (z-BMI > 1 standard deviation), and abdominal obesity being defined on the basis of waist circumference (percentile ≥ 90) using the tables proposed by Fernández et al. Variation in these two parameters at age 6 years was associated with incident cases of suboptimal health by logistic regression, and with HRQL by linear regression.

Results: Compared to children without excess weight or abdominal obesity in both periods, incident cases of excess weight or abdominal obesity had odds ratios (ORs) of suboptimal health of 2.41 (95% CI 1.21 to 4.80) and 2.99 (95% CI 1.31 to 6.84) respectively. In terms of HRQL, children with remission of excess weight had a higher Kidscreen-10 score: β coefficient = 2.02 (95% CI 0.36 to 3.68), whereas new cases of abdominal obesity had a lower Kidscreen-10 score: β = - 2.22 (95% CI - 4.40 to - 0.03).

Conclusions: Incident cases of excess weight and abdominal obesity had a higher risk of suboptimal health. Incident cases of abdominal obesity were also associated with worse HRQL.