Özet:

Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the century. In Brazil, one out five students are overweight or obese. The consequences of childhood obesity can be seen in various aspects of these individuals` health, obese children have significant deficiencies in physical, social, schoolar and emotional functioning. The objective of this study was to determine the association between overweight/obesity and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children of two health institutions in the city of Belém. A total of 80 children aged 8 to 12 years old were selected, 40 of them eutrophic and 40 obese or overweight. Quality of life was measured using the Brazilian version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) questionnaire and the nutritional diagnosis was determined according to the criteria defined by the World Health Organization. Obese children had lower quality of life compared to eutrophic children in all domains (physical, emotional, social and school) analyzed by the applied questionnaire (PedsQL). The social domain was the most affected, demonstrating that obese and overweight children presented a 21% reduction in quality of life in this domain in relation to eutrophic children. Thus, it is concluded that obese children have lower quality of life when compared to eutrophic children, in all domains of PedsQl.

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