Health-Related Quality of Life Among Jordanian Adolescents

Associations among COVID-19 Family Stress, Family Functioning, and Child Health-Related Quality of Life through Lifestyle Behaviors in Children

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lasting effects on children, necessitating a thorough understanding of its impact for effective recovery planning. This study investigated the associations among COVID-19 family stress, family functioning, children's lifestyle behaviors (i.e., healthy food intake, unhealthy food intake, physical activity, and screen time), and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Data from a 2022 survey of parents with children aged 5 to 12 (mean age of boys: 8.36, mean age of girls: 7.76) in the United States through the online Prolific platform were analyzed using path analysis and gender-based multi-group analysis. The results showed an inverse relationship between family stressors and functioning (β = -0.39, p < 0.05). COVID-19 family stress was negatively related to child physical HRQOL (β = -0.20, p < 0.05) but not psychosocial HRQOL. Family functioning showed a positive relation with child healthy food intake (β = 0.26, p < 0.05) and a negative relation with unhealthy diet consumption (β = -0.27, p < 0.05), while no significant associations were found with child physical activity and screen time. Family functioning was indirectly associated with both types of HRQOL through the child's eating patterns. These relationships were more pronounced for girls. The findings point to a complex interplay between family stress and functioning, dietary habits, and the HRQOL of children during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly concerning girls' food intake and well-being.

Use of KIDSCREEN health-related quality of life instruments in the general population of children and adolescents: a scoping review

PURPOSE

Subjectively assessing health related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents is increasingly important in the public health field. One valid and widely used generic HRQoL instrument is the KIDSCREEN questionnaire. The aim of this study was to map all studies using KIDSCREEN instruments in the general population of children and adolescents aged 6-18 years.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted. The search strategy was formulated according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Scoping Reviews guidelines. The databases Cinahl, socINDEX, Medline, Embase, APA Psychinfo, Scopus, and Eric were searched in October 2021.

RESULTS

In total, 1365 papers were eligible for screening, 1031 were excluded and 334 reports were read in full. 252 reports were included. KIDSCREEN studies in the general population was predominantly conducted in Europe (n = 211). Most studies (n = 179) had a cross sectional design, while few experimental studies (n = 24) were found. The three KIDSCREEN versions comprising of 10, 27 and 52 items, were equally distributed between studies. The self-reported version (n = 225) of the KIDSCREEN instrument was more prevalent than the proxy version, while few studies discussed a cut point. Study contexts reflected international trends of public health challenges, commonly including mental- and psychosocial health, physical activity, socioeconomic status, and obesity.

CONCLUSION

KIDSCREEN is widely used in cross sectional studies assessing common public health challenges. Experimental and longitudinal assessments, possibly including relevant cut offs remain mainly unexplored and are recommended for future research.

The KIDSCREEN-27 Quality of Life Measure for Romanian Children Aged 6: Reliability and Validity of the Romanian Version

The KIDSCREEN-27 represents a standardized, worldwide instrument, employed to assess the health-related quality of life in children. The purpose of the present study is to validate the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire for 6-year-old preparatory school children and verify its reliability, as well as to perform a comparison regarding the quality of children’s lives living in two cities in Romania: Arad, a provincial city, versus the second most developed city in the country, Cluj-Napoca. A total of 256 children of 6 years of age, who come from families with both parents, with a medium to high socioeconomic status and a good health status, were included in the analysis, using the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire at three assessment time points with a re-test period of two weeks. Results indicated that the KIDSCREEN-27 turned out to be suitable for use in 6-year-old Romanian children. Analysis regarding the psychometric properties showed that the Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.554 to 0.661 at the end of the study. The Pearson correlation coefficients showed statistically significant differences between the items of each area investigated. In conclusion, there is a growing need to periodically monitor the health status of children to avoid possible problems which may occur.

Psychometric analysis of the Brazilian-version Kidscreen-27 questionnaire

Background

The objective of this study was to verify the reliability, discriminatory power and construct validity of the Kidscreen-27 questionnaire in Brazilian adolescents.

Methods

Adolescents that participated of the pilot study (210 adolescents; 52.9% boys; 13.7 years old) and of the baseline (816 participants; 52.7% girls; 13.1 years old) of the Movimente Project in 2016/2017 composed the sample of the present study. This project was carried out in six public schools in the city of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Test–retest reproducibility was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient and Gwet coefficient; internal consistency through McDonald's Omega; Hankins' Delta G coefficient verified the scale's discriminatory power and; confirmatory factor analysis to assess construct validity.

Results

Reproducibility values ranged from 0.71 to 0.78 for the dimensions (ICC), and ranged from 0.60 to 0.83 for the items (Gwet). McDonald's Ômega (0.82–0.91) for internal consistency measures. Discriminatory power ranging from 0.94 for the dimension Social Support and Friends to 0.98 for Psychological Well-Being. The factorial loads were > 0.40, except for item 19 (0.36). The fit quality indicators of the model were adequate (X²[df] = 1022.89 [311], p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.053 (0.049–0.087); CFI = 0.988; TLI = 0.987), confirming the five-factor structure originally proposed.

Conclusions

The Brazilian-version Kidscreen-27 achieved good levels of reproducibility, internal consistency, discriminatory power and construct validity. Its use is adequate to measure the health-related quality of life of adolescents in the Brazilian context.

Health-related quality of life in young Syrian refugees recently resettled in Norway

Aims: Millions have fled from the civil unrest in Syria, and half of these are children and youth. Although they are a population with an elevated risk of health problems due to adverse pre-migratory and post-migratory experiences, few studies have explored their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This is considered a fundamental construct in public health and might provide complementary descriptions of their health and well-being after resettling in a new country. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 160 Syrian youth aged 13–24 years. Using KIDSCREEN-27, the results for five dimensions of HRQoL was compared to population norm data. Demographic factors and war-related adverse events were used to predict HRQoL in hierarchical regression. Results: For most participants, the overall HRQoL was good, but it was lower in the dimensions for friends, physical well-being and psychological well-being compared to population norms. Scores in the dimensions for autonomy/parental relation and the school environment were high and were the main contributors to a positive HRQoL. Age and number of reported stressful events (SE) had the greatest impact on HRQoL, but the final regression model only accounted for 21% of the total variance. Conclusions: HRQoL is a relevant and non-invasive measure for refugee youth. Contributors to lower scores in physical and psychological well-being should be explored further and indicate the potential for future interventions focussing on general psychological well-being and networks, regardless of the SE that have been experienced. These interventions could potentially be based in schools or in families in order to benefit from these being seemingly safe environments for the majority of the group.

Health-related quality of life of Portuguese children and adolescents according to diet quality and food intake

PURPOSE

The implication of adolescence diet quality and of certain specific foods' intake on HRQoL remain underexplored, and little importance has been given to biological changes (e.g. growth, maturation, dimorphism, body composition), that remarkably increase the variability of diet and physical activity behaviours. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between diet quality and food intake with HRQoL in adolescents, considering maturity, body composition, and physical activity level.

METHODS

In total 669 Portuguese adolescents aged 10-17 years, attending three secondary schools, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Diet quality was assessed by Diet Quality International-Index (DQI-I), physical activity level was self-reported, and the HRQoL was assessed by the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire. The KIDSCREEN-52 includes ten dimensions (physical well-being, psychological well-being, moods and emotions, self-perception, autonomy, parent relations and home life, social support and peers, school environment, social acceptance and bullying and financial resources) and it allowed to compute a general index of the HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10 index) through a selection of 10 items out of the KIDSCREEN-52 list. Fat mass was obtained by skinfold thickness. Maturity was objectively measured. The level of significance was set at α = 0.05.

RESULTS

Boys scored higher in HRQoL and in physical well-being, self-perception, autonomy, parent relations and home life than girls. Intakes of unhealthy foods were negatively correlated with physical well-being, self-perception, and social acceptance and bullying, while healthy foods were positively correlated with psychological well-being, moods and emotions, self-perception, and school environment. The DQI-I showed to be positively correlated with physical well-being. Participants who reported to have a higher DQI-I (≥ 60) perceived better their school environment and social acceptance and bullying. However, those results were not determined by diet quality but rather by bone age and physical activity level.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that boys reported higher HRQoL and higher scores in the majority of HRQoL dimensions, compared to girls. The intake of unhealthy foods was negatively correlated with some HRQoL dimensions, whilst healthy foods showed positive correlations with some HRQoL dimensions. Biological maturity and physical activity level revealed to be important confounders in the study of diet quality and perception of school environment and social acceptance and bullying in adolescents.

Health- Related Quality of Life Among Jordanian Adolescent Cancer Patients Receiving Active Treatment

Aims:

The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life among adolescents diagnosed with malignancies and currently undergoing treatment in the age group of 13-18 years old.

Method:

The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. Participants were recruited from the pediatric oncology department at King Hussein Cancer Center in Jordan. The Arabic version of self-report (adolescent 13-18) pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQLTM ) 4.0 Generic Core Scale was used.

Results:

Eighty patients were enrolled in the study. The total score of PedsQL 4.0 generic core was 62.0 (SD=16.5). The highest score was for social functioning (mean=85.4, SD=18.4) and the lowest score was school functioning (mean=39.5, SD=28.4). Females had significantly higher scores for health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in school functioning. Type of tumor did not affect HRQOL. Outpatient participants had significantly higher scores for HRQOL in all domains, except in school functioning where inpatients had a significantly higher score.

Conclusion:

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the HRQOL scores for Jordanian adolescents with cancer. Addressing the special needs in such a unique age group is essential when planning a comprehensive care plan for a better quality of life.

Examining boys' and girls' health-related quality of life from the first to the third year of upper secondary school: A prospective longitudinal study

AIM

To examine differences in health-related quality of life between boys and girls in the first and third years of upper secondary school.

DESIGN

Prospective longitudinal study.

METHODS

The KIDSCREEN-10 was used to assess health-related quality of life. Differences in health-related quality of life over time were estimated using a linear mixed-effects model for correlated measurements.

RESULTS

In the first-year boys (N = 168) and girls (N = 228) reported a mean health-related quality of life score of 76.3 (SD 10.7) and 69.8 (SD 11.5), respectively. In the third year, the mean health-related quality of life score for boys and girls was 73.5 (SD 12.4) and 65.7 (SD 13.3), respectively. Boys had a significant decrease in health-related quality of life mean score of -2.6 and girls a significant decrease of -3.8 (p < .001) over the 3-year period. There was no significant difference between boys' and girls' health-related quality of life changes (p = .39).

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

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.

Health-related quality of life in type-2 diabetes patients: a cross-sectional study in East China

BACKGROUND

Used the EuroQoL-5 dimension (EQ-5D) to evaluate the health status of 5310 residents who live in East China, and compared the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with 311 patients with type 2 diabetes as well as to explore the main influence factors to HRQoL in East China.

METHODS

The cohort includes 5310 participants aged 18-89 years old lived in East China. EuroQoL-5 dimension (EQ-5D) scale was used for the assessment of health-related quality of life.

RESULTS

The mean age of the cohort was 52.2 ± 13.4 years of which 43.7% were male. A moderate level of health-related quality of life was measured of that EQ-5D index and EQ-VAS scores were 0.939 ± 0.111 and 80.06 ± 11.58, respectively. There was a significant difference between diabetes patients and non-diabetes (p = 0.029, p < 0.001, respectively). The age had an inverse correlation with the EQ-5D scores both in general population and diabetes patients. The EQ-5D Vas was weakly adversely associated with the FPG, HbA1c and HOMA-IR.

CONCLUSION

The overall health-related quality of life of population in East-China was moderate. Diabetes patients had lower score of health-related quality. The healthy-related quality was associated with the age, gender, economic development of region, level of education and marital status.