Abstract
Purpose
To examine the associations between cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, physical activity and waist circumference with self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis that included 1129 school children aged 10 years from 57 schools in Sogn and Fjordane County, Norway. The HRQoL outcome was assessed by the self-reported KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire, which covers five life domains. Independent variables were cardiorespiratory fitness assessed by the Andersen intermittent field running test, handgrip strength measured by a hand dynamometer, explosive strength in the lower body using a standing broad jump test, physical activity (counts per minute) using an accelerometer and abdominal adiposity measured by waist circumference. Statistical analyses were performed using linear mixed-effect models including school site as a random effect. Age and sex were entered as covariates.
Results
Only cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with higher scores on all five KIDSCREEN-27 domains (P < 0.047 for all). Explosive strength in the lower body was positively associated with higher autonomy and parents scores (P = 0.018), while physical activity was positively associated with higher physical well-being scores (P = 0.008).
Conclusions
Improving cardiorespiratory fitness might be especially useful for improving HRQoL in children.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ravens-Sieberer, U., Herdman, M., Devine, J., Otto, C., Bullinger, M., Rose, M., et al. (2014). The European KIDSCREEN approach to measure quality of life and well-being in children: Development, current application, and future advances. Quality of Life Research, 23(3), 791–803.
Rangul, V., Bauman, A., Holmen, T. L., & Midthjell, K. (2012). Is physical activity maintenance from adolescence to young adulthood associated with reduced CVD risk factors, improved mental health and satisfaction with life: The HUNT study, Norway. International Jorunal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 9, 144.
Bjornelv, S., Lydersen, S., Holmen, J., Lund Nilsen, T. I., & Holmen, T. L. (2009). Sex differences in time trends for overweight and obesity in adolescents: The Young-HUNT study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 37(8), 881–889.
Dyrstad, S. M., Berg, T., & Tjelta, L. I. (2012). Secular trends in aerobic fitness performance in a cohort of Norwegian adolescents. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 22(6), 822–827.
Kolle, E., Steene-Johannessen, J., Holme, I., Andersen, L. B., & Anderssen, S. A. (2009). Secular trends in adiposity in Norwegian 9-year-olds from 1999-2000 to 2005. BMC Public Health, 9, 389.
Knuth, A. G., & Hallal, P. C. (2009). Temporal trends in physical activity: A systematic review. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 6(5), 548–559.
Kolle, E., Steene-Johannessen, J., Andersen, L. B., & Anderssen, S. A. (2009). Seasonal variation in objectively assessed physical activity among children and adolescents in Norway: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 6, 36.
Sanchez-Lopez, M., Salcedo-Aguilar, F., Solera-Martinez, M., Moya-Martinez, P., Notario-Pacheco, B., & Martinez-Vizcaino, V. (2009). Physical activity and quality of life in schoolchildren aged 11–13 years of Cuenca, Spain. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 19(6), 879–884.
Borras, P., Vidal, J., Ponseti, X., Cantallops, J., & Palou, P. (2011). Predictors of quality of life in children. Journal of Human Sport & Excercise, 6(4), 649–656.
Gopinath, B., Hardy, L. L., Baur, L. A., Burlutsky, G., & Mitchell, P. (2012). Physical activity and sedentary behaviors and health-related quality of life in adolescents. Pediatrics, 130(1), e167–e174.
Padilla-Moledo, C., Castro-Pinero, J., Ortega, F. B., Mora, J., Marquez, S., Sjostrom, M., et al. (2012). Positive health, cardiorespiratory fitness and fatness in children and adolescents. The European Journal of Public Health, 22(1), 52–56.
Finne, E., Bucksch, J., Lampert, T., & Kolip, P. (2013). Physical activity and screen-based media use: Cross-sectional associations with health-related quality of life and the role of body satisfaction in a representative sample of German adolescents. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 1(1), 15–30.
Spengler, S., & Woll, A. (2013). The more physically active, the healthier? The relationship between physical activity and health-related quality of life in adolescents: The MoMo study. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 10(5), 708–715.
Jalali-Farahani, S., Amiri, P., & Chin, Y. S. (2016). Are physical activity, sedentary behaviors and sleep duration associated with body mass index-for-age and health-related quality of life among high school boys and girls? Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 14(1), 30.
Boyle, S. E., Jones, G. L., & Walters, S. J. (2010). Physical activity, quality of life, weight status and diet in adolescents. Quality of Life Research, 19(7), 943–954.
Spengler, S., Mess, F., Schmocker, E., & Woll, A. (2014). Longitudinal associations of health-related behavior patterns in adolescence with change of weight status and self-rated health over a period of 6 years: Results of the MoMo longitudinal study. BMC Pediatrics, 14, 242.
Page, A. S., Cooper, A. R., Griew, P., & Jago, R. (2010). Children’s screen viewing is related to psychological difficulties irrespective of physical activity. Pediatrics, 126(5), e1011–e1017.
Morales, P. F., Sanchez-Lopez, M., Moya-Martinez, P., Garcia-Prieto, J. C., Martinez-Andres, M., Garcia, N. L., et al. (2013). Health-related quality of life, obesity, and fitness in schoolchildren: The Cuenca study. Quality of Life Research, 22(7), 1515–1523.
Mindell, J. S., Coombs, N., & Stamatakis, E. (2014). Measuring physical activity in children and adolescents for dietary surveys: Practicalities, problems and pitfalls. Proceedings of Nutrition Society, 73(2), 218–225.
Wafa, S. W., Shahril, M. R., Ahmad, A. B., Zainuddin, L. R., Ismail, K. F., Aung, M. M., et al. (2016). Association between physical activity and health-related quality of life in children: A cross-sectional study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. doi:10.1186/s12955-016-0474-y.
Shoup, J. A., Gattshall, M., Dandamudi, P., & Estabrooks, P. (2008). Physical activity, quality of life, and weight status in overweight children. Quality of Life Research, 17(3), 407–412.
Resaland, G. K., Moe, V. F., Aadland, E., Steene-Johannessen, J., Glosvik, O., Andersen, J. R., et al. (2015). Active Smarter Kids (ASK): Rationale and design of a cluster-randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of daily physical activity on children’s academic performance and risk factors for non-communicable diseases. BMC Public Health, 15, 709.
Ravens-Sieberer, U. (2006). The kidscreen questionnaires. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers.
Ravens-Sieberer, U., Auquier, P., Erhart, M., Gosch, A., Rajmil, L., Bruil, J., et al. (2007). The KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life measure for children and adolescents: Psychometric results from a cross-cultural survey in 13 European countries. Quality of Life Research, 16(8), 1347–1356.
Andersen, J. R., Natvig, G. K., Haraldstad, K., Skrede, T., Aadland, E., & Resaland, G. K. (2016). Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Kidscreen-27 questionnaire. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 14(1), 58.
Andersen, L. B., Andersen, T. E., Andersen, E., & Anderssen, S. A. (2008). An intermittent running test to estimate maximal oxygen uptake: The Andersen test. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 48(4), 434–437.
Aadland, E., Terum, T., Mamen, A., Andersen, L. B., & Resaland, G. K. (2014). The Andersen aerobic fitness test: Reliability and validity in 10-year-old children. PLoS ONE, 9(10), e110492.
Eurofit: Handbook for the Eurofit tests of physical fitness. (1993). Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Committee for the Development of Sport.
Artero, E. G., Espana-Romero, V., Castro-Pinero, J., Ortega, F. B., Suni, J., Castillo-Garzon, M. J., et al. (2011). Reliability of field-based fitness tests in youth. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 32(3), 159–169.
Castro-Pinero, J., Artero, E. G., Espana-Romero, V., Ortega, F. B., Sjostrom, M., Suni, J., et al. (2010). Criterion-related validity of field-based fitness tests in youth: A systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 44(13), 934–943.
Brannsether, B., Roelants, M., Bjerknes, R., & Juliusson, P. B. (2011). Waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio in Norwegian children 4–18 years of age: Reference values and cut-off levels. Acta Paediatrica, 100(12), 1576–1582.
Brage, S., Wedderkopp, N., Franks, P. W., Andersen, L. B., & Froberg, K. (2003). Reexamination of validity and reliability of the CSA monitor in walking and running. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 35(8), 1447–1454.
Esliger, D. W., Copeland, J. L., Barnes, J. D., & Tremblay, M. S. (2005). Standardizing and optimizing the use of accelerometer data for free-living physical activity monitoring. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2(3), 366.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (1st ed.). New York: Academic Press.
Fuller, C. D., Braden, C. J., & Thomas, C. R., Jr. (2004). Quality of life: From a Tower of Babel toward a unified voice. International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 58(5), 1334–1335.
Gelman, A. (2008). Scaling regression inputs by dividing by two standard deviations. Statistics in Medicine, 27(15), 2865–2873.
Perneger, T. V. (1998). What’s wrong with Bonferroni adjustments. BMJ, 316(7139), 1236–1238.
Walters, S. J. (2009). Quality of life outcomes in clinical trials and health-care evaluation: A practical guide to analysis and interpretation (Vol. 84). Hoboken: Wiley.
Rothman, K. J. (1990). No adjustments are needed for multiple comparisons. Epidemiology, 1(1), 43–46.
Sun, X., Ioannidis, J. P., Agoritsas, T., Alba, A. C., & Guyatt, G. (2014). How to use a subgroup analysis: Users’ guide to the medical literature. JAMA, 311(4), 405–411.
Schutte, N. M., Nederend, I., Hudziak, J. J., Bartels, M., & de Geus, E. J. (2016). Twin-sibling study and meta-analysis on the heritability of maximal oxygen consumption. Physiological Genomics, 48(3), 210–219.
Jepsen, R., Aadland, E., Andersen, J. R., & Natvig, G. K. (2013). Associations between physical activity and quality of life outcomes in adults with severe obesity: A cross-sectional study prior to the beginning of a lifestyle intervention. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 11, 187.
Jepsen, R., Aadland, E., Robertson, L., Kolotkin, R. L., Andersen, J. R., & Natvig, G. K. (2015). Physical activity and quality of life in severely obese adults during a two-year lifestyle intervention programme. Journal of Obesity, 2015, 314194.
Buttitta, M., Iliescu, C., Rousseau, A., & Guerrien, A. (2014). Quality of life in overweight and obese children and adolescents: A literature review. Quality of Life Research, 23(4), 1117–1139.
Funding
This study was funded by the Research Council of Norway (ID number 221047/F40) and Sogn og Fjordane University College (new name from 1 January 2017: “Western Norway University of Applied Sciences”).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
The ASK study conforms to the ethical guidelines of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics (Reference Number: 2012/2304).
Informed consent
We obtained written consent from the parents or legal guardians and responsible school authorities of each child.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Andersen, J.R., Natvig, G.K., Aadland, E. et al. Associations between health-related quality of life, cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, physical activity and waist circumference in 10-year-old children: the ASK study. Qual Life Res 26, 3421–3428 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1634-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1634-1