April 8, 2003
"It's a complex relationship.
We don't know the answer to that," says study co-author
Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, a pediatric gastroenterologist at
the University of California, San Diego.
Schwimmer, who works with sick, obese kids at Children's
Hospital & Health
Center in San Diego, says he was inspired to do the research
after he noticed the children seemed unhappy. But he couldn't
find any research in the United States to suggest if fat
children suffered from a lower quality of life than other
children.
The study researchers surveyed 106 patients who were treated
at the hospital for obesity. The patients, aged 5 to 18, had
an average body mass index (BMI) of 34.7.
The index is a ratio that includes weight and height. To reach
a BMI of 34 or higher, a 12-year-old boy who's 5-foot-3 would
have to weigh at least 190 pounds.
The results of the study appear in the April 9 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The children took a test that measured their quality of life
by asking questions about issues such as their health, stamina,
athletic and school activities, personal relationships and
general feelings -- such as whether they were happy or sad,
angry or calm.
On a 100-point scale, the obese children reported their quality
of life at 67, compared to 83 for healthy, non-obese children
surveyed in another study. Parents of both sets of kids were
also questioned about the quality of life of their children,
and they reported an even larger gap -- 63 versus 88.
Looked at another way, the obese children were 5.5 times more
likely to have a poor quality of life than the healthy kids,
the researchers say.
"The obese children reported lower quality of life
in every single domain," Schwimmer says. "These differences
held up even when we looked at issues of gender, race, age
and socioeconomic status."
The children also reported poor quality of life regardless
of whether they suffered from illnesses such as diabetes and
heart disease.
To put the figures in context, the researchers compared them
to quality of life surveys of children undergoing chemotherapy.
"They've been demonstrated to have the lowest quality
of life of any pediatric health condition," Schwimmer says. "That's
why we selected them. It's a tough benchmark."
The quality of life reported by children undergoing chemotherapy
was actually a slight bit better than the obese children, the
researchers found.
The study doesn't offer any new information about why very
heavy children have less fulfilling lives than their skinnier
contemporaries. However, Schwimmer suspects social stigma plays
a large part.
"From an early age, even at the kindergarten level,
children see obese children as different and many respond
to them differently," he
says. "And certainly by junior high, children who are
still obese are clearly ostracized in many places."
Dr. James Rosen is a professor of psychology at the University
of Vermont and an expert in weight control among children.
He says other stressful obstacles confronting heavy children
include "not participating in sports, physical discomfort
moving around, and the stress of trying to eat healthy when
facing a junk food school cafeteria."
Food and weight control can become a "battleground" at
home, he adds. And divorced parents may give their obese
children conflicting messages about the importance of controlling
weight.
An estimated 15 percent of American children are obese, or
one in seven, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. The rate has tripled since the 1970s.
Schwimmer acknowledges the study didn't look at very heavy
children in general, but only those who visited a hospital
for treatment of obesity.
In another study on obesity and children in the April 9 Journal
of the American Medical Association, researchers at the University
of Pennsylvania report that obese children who have behavior-modification
therapy can lose even more weight if they take a weight-loss
medication for adults called sibutramine.
Children who were treated with sibutramine for six months lost
an average of 17 pounds, compared to just seven pounds for
those who also had the behavior-modification therapy but took
a placebo instead of the drug.
The researchers caution, however, that more testing needs to
be done before doctors should recommend the drug to young patients.
© 2002 ScoutNews LLC.
