Thinness is commonly seen in adolescents. Our study examined the effect of thinness on quality of life in adolescents. The study was conducted on children aged 13 to 18 years who were healthy school children. The children`s body mass index (BMI) and BMI z scores were calculated. A BMI z score of less than -2 was regarded as thinness. The children and their parents were asked to complete the pediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL) adolescent form with responses which applied to them. The three categories of the PedsQL score were the total score of inventory, physical health total score, and psychosocial health total score which assesses emotional, social and school attributes. A total of 161 children, 100 (62.1%) girls and 61 (37.9%) boys participated in the study. The average age of the children was 15.4±1.1 years. Twenty-nine (18%) children had BMI z scores less than -2. Physical health total score scores of thin children and parents (73±18, 69±21, respectively) were significantly lower than those of normal children and parents (82±12, 81±15, respectively) (p= 0.014, 0.006), while the total score of inventory of thin children and parents (76±12, 76±14, respectively) were lower than those of normal children and parents (81±10, 81±11, respectively), but no statistically significant difference was found (p=0.052, 0.054, respectively). No difference was found between psychosocial health total score of the two groups. Our study showed that quality of life associated with physical health is lower in thin adolescents, and, parents thought that the physical health of thin children was more deficient.

Keywords: adolescent, child, thinness, quality of life