Effects of a diabetes prevention programme on weight-specific quality of life in Latino youth

Objective: To examine the effects of a diabetes prevention programme on weight-specific Quality of Life (QOL) in obese Latino youth. Methods: Fifteen obese Latino adolescents (body mass index % = 96.4 ± 1.2; age = 15.0 ± 1.0) completed a 12-week culturally grounded, community-based intervention designed to improve physical and psychosocial health. Weight-specific QOL was assessed by the Youth Quality of Life-Weight module and compared with age, sex and ethnicity-matched lean youth. Results: At baseline, intervention youth exhibited significantly lower weight-specific QOL compared with lean youth (70.8 ± 5.4 vs. 91.2 ± 2.2, P = 0.002). However, following the intervention, total weight-specific QOL increased by 21.8% among obese youth (70.8 ± 5.4 to 86.2 ± 4.3, P < 0.001) and was no longer different from lean controls. Significant increases in weight-specific QOL were noted across all subdomains including self (45.7%), social (11.9%) and environmental (36.2%) despite the fact that weight did not change (90.6 ± 6.8 to 89.9 ± 7.2, P = 0.44). The improvements in QOL were maintained for up to 12 months after the intervention. Conclusion: Weight-specific QOL among obese Latino youth can be improved through lifestyle interventions to a level similar to lean peers. Further, weight loss may not be necessary to observe improvements in QOL.