Quality of Life in Obese Patients- Gender Differences

Objective: To assess the gender differences in Quality of Life (QoL) in patients with obesity.Methods: A descriptive survey was conducted among 220 patients (110 males and 110 females) attendingOPDs of a tertiary care hospital, Kerala using a standardized questionnaire SF 36 (version 1.0). Conveniencesampling technique was usedFindings: The major co morbidity found among the subjects was diabetes mellitus ie.72 (65.5%) in malesand 56 (50.9 %) in females .The percentage of males as per the obesity category i.e. Class I, II, III were 40,36.5 and 23.5, where as that of the females were 60.9, 31.8 and 7.3 respectively. The mean QoL was found tobe slightly above average for males (51.19+/- 12.54) than the females (48.79 +/- 12.86.). Of the 8 domains,the QoL in males were found to be poor in two domains where as in females it was poor in four domains.The physical component scores (PCS) were found to be better in both sexes i.e. 55.89 +/- 19.07 and 52.68+/-21.04 compared to the mental component scores (MCS) i.e. 50.03+/-13.35 and 48.84+/-14.01.Conclusion: The study has highlighted a poor QoL in obese women especially in the mental componentscores in spite of a higher proportion of morbid obesity and DM in men.