Comparison of the Association of Excess Weight on Health Related Quality of Life of Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Age- and BMI-Matched Case Control Study

BACKGROUND: It is assumed that obesity adversely affects the health related quality of life (HRQOL) of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), not only due to the excess weight, but also due to several other obesity induced metabolic and reproductive consequences. We aimed to compare the effects of excess body weight on the HRQOL between women with PCOS and controls. METHODS: This is a case control study of 142 women with PCOS and 140 age- and BMI- matched controls. The Iranian version of short form health survey 36 (SF 36) was used to assess HRQOL. Domains of SF 36 were compared in women with PCOS and controls using multivariate analysis of covariance. The Pearson correlation was used to assess the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and domain scores of SF 36, and the differences between two correlations in cases and controls, using Fisher’s Z test. RESULTS: Women with PCOS had significantly lower scores for both, the physical and the mental component summary scales, compared to controls. In the cases, a significant negative correlations were observed for BMI with physical function (r = - 0.301, P<0.001), bodily pain (r = - 0.23, P = 0.006), and physical summary score (r = -0.3, P = 0.007). In controls, significant correlation was seen for BMI with bodily pain (r = - 0.3, P<0.001) and physical summary score (r = - 0.27, P = 0.001). The differences between correlations of physical function with BMI in PCOS and controls were statistically significant (Z = -2.41, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: Although the physical aspects of HRQOL are adversely affected by overweight in both PCOS and controls, these impaired effects are greater in women with PCOS.