Abstract
Few studies have thus far been carried out on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and obesity in Arab-speaking countries, an issue that we therefore set out to investigate in this study. HRQoL was assessed by the validated Arabic version of the ORWELL 97 questionnaire in 129 treatment-seeking individuals with obesity referred to the Nutritional and Weight Management Outpatient Clinic at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of Beirut Arab University (BAU) in Lebanon, and 129 normal-weight participants of similar age and gender. Participants with obesity, regardless of gender, displayed higher total ORWELL 97 scores when compared with normal-weight controls, indicating that obesity is associated with lower HRQoL. Linear regression analysis showed that a higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with an increase in ORWELL 97 scores, but only among female, not male, participants with obesity (β = 2.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.43–4.53, p < 0.001). Moreover, logistic regression analysis showed that a one unit increase in BMI increases the odds of an ORWELL 97 score ≥ 71.75—considered indicative of a clinically significant impairment of HRQoL—by nearly 23% (odds ratio (OR), 95% CI = 1.23, 1.09–1.40, p < 0.05). If confirmed, our findings should prompt clinicians operating in Arab countries to encourage patients with obesity to initiate and persevere in weight-loss programs at the earliest opportunity.
Highlights
Since the early 80s, there has been growing interest in a new dimension of quality of life, termedHealth-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)—defined as an assessment of how the individual’s wellbeing may be affected over time by a disease, disability or disorder [1]
The median and interquartile range of age and gender were similar in treatment-seeking individuals with obesity (33.0 (25.0–46.0) years) and normal-weight controls (34.7 (28.7–41.5) years), with the majority of both participants (68.2%) and controls (66.7%) being female
Simple linear regression analysis showed that the independent variables age and presence of chronic disease were not correlated with HRQoL in either males or females with obesity
Summary
Since the early 80s, there has been growing interest in a new dimension of quality of life, termed. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)—defined as an assessment of how the individual’s wellbeing may be affected over time by a disease, disability or disorder [1]. Obesity is associated with major medical and psychosocial comorbidities [4,5], and people with obesity are expected to experience sub-optimal health for a much higher proportion of their life than those without [6]. Obesity is a health problem that is increasing worldwide [4], the growing body of evidence regarding HRQoL in obesity that has emerged over the past three decades is mainly derived from Western populations [3]. Patients in Western countries have benefitted considerably
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