The relationship between body mass index (BMI) and quality of life in Iranian primary school students in Tehran, Iran

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) and quality of life in primary school students in Tehran. Method: In this cross-sectional study 829 primary school children and their parents participated. Health-related quality of life (HROOL) was evaluated with the Persian version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL (TM) 4.0) questionnaire. According to objective measures of height and weight, children BMI computed, and adapted for age and gender. For data analysis we used Pearson correlation test, Independent-sample t-test and ANOVA using SPSS version 18. Results: Mean of children self-reported HRQOL total score was 82.05 +/- 12.04 and mean of parent proxy-reported HRQOL total score was 81.66 +/- 12.81. Based on HRQOL subscale scores, social functioning was the highest subscale score of HRQOL (84.67 +/- 15.07) and the emotional subscale score was the lowest (77.79 +/- 17.26). Lower HRQOL scores were significantly correlated with Higher BMI and normal weight children had significantly higher HRQOL total score than obese children (P < 0.05). The difference between normal weight and overweight children in HRQOL total scores were not significant. Same results were obtained from parent proxy-reports and a good harmony between children self-report and parent proxy-report of HRQOL was perceived. Conclusion: This study showed that HRQOL of obese children were at the lower level in comparison to normal weight and overweight children. At further interventional studies these outcomes can be very important for improving quality of life in obese children.