Health-related quality of life of children and adolescents: bicentric study and comparison to european data

Background: The interest in Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as a global health indicator is recent and it remains little studied in pediatric age. Aim: To evaluate HRQoL in a population of children and adolescents from two primary care Portuguese units. Material and methods: Cross-sectional observational study. HRQoL was assessed using the KIDSCREEN-27® questionnaire. Participants included children and adolescents aged 8-18 years presenting to a consultation at two primary care services: Centro de Saude (CS) Sete Rios and Unidade de Saude Familiar (USF) Infesta, between February 1 and July 1, 2013. Results: A total of 163 individuals answered the questionnaire (CS Sete Rios=85; USF Infesta=78). The median age was 11,59 ± 2,54 years, with a female preponderance (102/62,6%). Compared to the European data, our patients presented significantly higher HRQoL scores in all five dimensions (pConclusions: Our population presents a high HRQoL. The results of the comparative analysis underlines some differences, that may be concern of future studies to plan successful health policies and practices.