Quality of life in overweight (obese) and normal-weight women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Abstract

Objective

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by phenotypic heterogeneity and has a wide variety of consequences. Approximately half of women with PCOS are overweight or obese, and their obesity may be a contributing factor to PCOS pathogenesis through different mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate if PCOS alone affects the patients’ quality of life and to what extent obesity contributes to worsen this disease.

Design

To evaluate the impact of PCOS on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), 100 Mediterranean women with PCOS (group A), 50 with a body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m² (group A₁) and 50 with BMI <25 kg/m² (group A₂), were recruited. They were evaluated with a specific combination of standardized psychometric questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised, the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, and the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Questionnaire. The patients were compared with a normal-weight healthy control group of 40 subjects (group B). Another control group of 40 obese healthy women (group C) was used to make a comparison with PCOS obese patients (A₁).

Results

Our results showed a considerable worsening of HRQoL in PCOS patients (A) compared with controls (B). In addition, patients with PCOS and BMI >25 (A₁) showed a significant and more marked reduction in scores, suggesting a lower quality of life, compared with controls (B) and with normal-weight PCOS patients (A₂).

Conclusion

PCOS is a complex disease that alone determines a deterioration of HRQoL. The innovative use of these psychometric questionnaires in this study, in particular the PCOS questionnaire, has highlighted that obesity has a negative effect on HRQoL. It follows that a weight decrease is associated to phenotypic spectrum improvement and relative decrement in psychological distress.

Keywords:

• polycystic ovary syndrome
• obesity
• normal-weight
• health-related quality-of-life
• psychological disturbances

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

Author contributions

Annalisa Panico and Giovanni Messina contribute equally to the article. Giovanni Messina and Antonietta Messina are second-degree relatives. Gelsy Arianna Lupoli, Roberta Lupoli, and Giovanni Lupoli are first-degree relatives. Vincenzo Monda and Marcellino Monda are first-degree relatives. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and critically revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors reports no conflicts of interests in this work.