Quality of Life of Obese School-Age Children and their Mothers' Perspectives in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Obesity is rapidly overtaking as a burden of the disease, it is expanding to include children, which put it on the top of the international public health agenda. Aim the study aimed to explore the quality of life among school-age children suffering from obesity and their mothers’ perspective in the Cairo governorate. Research design was descriptive correlational cross-sectional design. Setting: The study was carried out in selected governmental primary schools in Cairo governorate. Sample: In total, two hundred children and their mothers agreed to participate in the study. Tools: Two tools were used, I : Pre-designed Questionnaire interviewing Format which consisted of three parts: first part focused on socio-demographic data for children such as age, gender, grade level, their parents’ educational levels and family income of the studied sample. Second part focused on medical and family history. Third part focused on the nutritional habits of children. II: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory version 4.0 which consisted of two part, first part: Children health-related quality of life to assess QoL of children which includes 23-items covering the physical, emotional, social and school functioning domains. Second part: Mothers’ perspective on the QoL of their children. Results: that the mean age of the participating school children was 9.37 ± 1.8, 63.5% of the children were obese and 25% of them had obesity class III. 69.5% of children have a positive family history of obesity. An overview of the QoL dimensions, showing the weighted means for physical, social, emotional, and school dimensions (1.96±0.43; 1.94±0.51; 1.65±0.39; 1.80±0.43 respectively). These values indicate poor QoL. Conclusion: It was concluded that school-age children in the Cairo governorate had a poor QoL, with a statistically significant difference recorded with respect to age, BMI, and family income, and a highly statistically significant difference with the educational level of the mother of each child. However, no statistically significant difference was identified between QoL and gender. Recommendation: Establish education programs from school age onwards to teach families about healthy eating habits and raise awareness of health hazards associated with fast food consumption.