Physical function, physical activity, and health-related quality of life among Japanese children aged 8–12 years

Abstract

Background

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is indicative of an individual’s overall health status, and identifying factors that influence HRQOL is important in improving HRQOL. This study investigated associations between the physical function, with focus being placed on the balance ability, and HRQOL.

Methods

This cross-sectional study assessed HRQOL using the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Based on their total, physical, and psychosocial HRQOL scores, participants were divided into higher and lower score groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify physical function that affect HRQOL.

Results

This study included 323 Japanese children aged 8–12 (167 girls, mean age 10.5 ± 1.4 years). The analysis revealed that the total score correlated with balance ability (odds ratio 1.030; p = 0.017) and cardiorespiratory fitness (odds ratio 0.963; p = 0.004). Physical scores correlated with lower body muscle strength (odds ratio 1.020; p = 0.029) and balance ability (odds ratio 1.034; p = 0.006). Psychosocial scores correlated with balance ability (odds ratio 1.024; p = 0.042) and cardiorespiratory fitness (odds ratio 0.972; p = 0.023).

Conclusion

Notably, the balance function was tied to all HRQOL scores among physical functions. The results suggest that improving balance ability is important for maintaining and improving HRQOL.

Keywords:

• Health-related quality of life
• physical function
• balance ability
• cardiorespiratory fitness
• physical activity

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank the students and teachers from Nagoya University and the Aichi Prefectural Mikawa Aoitori Medical and Rehabilitation Center staff for their assistance with conducting physical checkups and interviewing questionnaires. In addition, we acknowledge the Okazaki City Board of Education, Okazaki City Medical Association, Aichi Pediatric Medical Association, Umezono Elementary School, and Neishi Elementary School. Finally, we would like to thank all the parents and children who participated in this study.

Consent to participate

Written informed consent was obtained from the children and their guardians.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Aichi Prefectural Mikawa Aoitori Medical and Rehabilitation Centre for Developmental Disabilities (IRB approval number: 29002; approval date: October 10, 2017).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Number 22K11653 to H. Sugiura) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.