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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter February 12, 2018

Associations between health-related quality of life and body mass index in Portuguese adolescents: LabMed physical activity study

  • Sofia Evaristo , Carla Moreira EMAIL logo , Rute Santos , Luís Lopes , Sandra Abreu , César Agostinis-Sobrinho , José Oliveira-Santos and Jorge Mota

Abstract

Background

In adolescence there are several biological and physiological changes associated with overweight and obesity.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to analyze the associations between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and body mass index (BMI) in adolescents.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional analysis of 957 Portuguese adolescents (446 girls and 511 boys) aged 12–18 years. A series of variables were collected: (a) HRQoL was assessed using the KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire; (b) socioeconomic status (SES) was measured using the Family Affluence Scale; (c) body composition (weigh, height) were measured and BMI was calculated and, (d) pubertal stage was assessed with Tanner stages; (e) the 20-m shuttle-run was used to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness. Regression models and mediation analysis were performed to assess the association between HRQoL and BMI.

Results

HRQoL was significantly higher in boys than girls (p < 0.05). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 23.5% and 6.7% in girls, and 21.3% and 5% in boys, respectively. HRQoL was inversely and significantly associated with BMI in boys (B = −0.130; p < 0.05) and girls (B = −0.148; p < 0.05) after controlling for age, pubertal stage and SES. Cardiorespiratory fitness act as a full mediator variable on the relationship between BMI and HRQoL in adolescents (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness acted as a full mediator in the relationship between BMI and HRQoL, in adolescents. Public health policies targeting a wealthy weight and an improved physical fitness level could be a strategy of particular interest for improving the HRQoL of adolescents.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by FCT grants: BPD/102381/2014 and BD88984/2012. The Research Centre on Physical Activity Health and Leisure (CIAFEL) is supported by UID/DTP/00617/2013 (FCT). The author Rute Santos has a Discovery Early Career Research Award from the Australian Research Council (DE150101921). The author César Aparecido Agostinis Sobrinho was given Doctoral scholarship from Brazilian government by CAPES (Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) (Proc: 9588-13-2). Luis Lopes has an Endeavour Fellowship from the Department of Education and Training of the Australian Government (6072_2017). The authors gratefully acknowledged the participation of all adolescents and their parents, teachers and schools of the LabMed physical activity study. They also acknowledge the cooperation of volunteer’s subjects and the research centre in physical activity, health and leisure (University of Porto) for sponsoring the LabMed physical activity study.

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Received: 2017-04-20
Accepted: 2017-07-13
Published Online: 2018-02-12

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