Pediatric Quality of Life Among Population With Body Mass Index (BMI) Greater Than or Equal to 85%
Pediatric Quality of Life Among Population With Body Mass Index (BMI) Greater Than or Equal to 85%
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.
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.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Ages 10-20

 -  BMI greater or equal to 85%