Pediatric Quality of Life Among Population With Body Mass Index (BMI) Greater Than or Equal to 85%
Condition: Pediatric Obesity
MeSH terms: Pediatric Obesity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      We are currently experiencing an epidemic of obesity in the Pediatric Population. This
      epidemic affects many areas including quality of life.

      We have been conducting a nutrition and exercise program since 2003. We have noticed that
      many of the participants seem to have a better quality of life after finishing the one year
      program compared to when they started. We would like to objectively quantify this improvement
      using a validated questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the study. Questionnaires
      will be given to participants and to their caretakers at the same time. There will be two
      groups in the study: one intervention (minimum attendance of 4 sessions) and one control
      group.
    

Detailed description: 
      We are currently experiencing an obesity epidemic in the Pediatric population. The latest
      National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data indicates that 16.5% has a BMI
      greater than or equal to 85% < 95% and 17.1% has a BMI greater than or equal to 95%. The
      quality of life of children who are obese has been shown to be lower than that of children
      with cancer. Health related quality of life measurements have emerged as an important health
      outcome in clinical trials, clinical practice improvement strategies, and healthcare services
      research and evaluation. We have conducted a behavioral nutrition and exercise program since
      2003. The name of the program is Teens, Empowerment, Exercise, Education, Nutrition (TEEEN)
      Program. We meet once a month on a Saturday afternoon for four hours. During this time we
      cover: registration (monitoring of sedentary activities and liquid choices; motivational
      interview, exercise testing); exercise; educational interactive lectures; didactic games and
      projects. We have noticed that participants seem to have a better quality of life after
      participating in the program compared to baseline. We would like to objectively quantify this
      subjective finding. We will be using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Version 4.0
      (PedsQL(TM)4.0) questionnaire which has been validated in the pediatric population. We will
      have an intervention and a control group. Both participants and their caretakers will be
      given a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the study.
    

Intervention name(s): Behavioral nutrition and exercise program
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention consists of a behavioral nutrition and exercise program. Meetings occur monthly on a Saturday afternoon and last 4 hours. During this time we cover: 1)registration: monitoring of sedentary activities and liquid choices, motivational interviewing, exercise testing;2)exercise: includes strength training; 3) educational lectures; 4) didactic games and projects.
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: BMI; Quality of life