Two measures of health-related quality of life in morbid obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures in obese presurgery patients with and without binge-eating disorder (BED) and to investigate the relationship between a generic [short form-36 (SF-36)] and a disease-specific HRQOL measure [Impact of Weight on Quality of Life Questionnaire (IWQOL)] and measures of eating-related and general psychopathology.


METHODS
One hundred ten patients ages 19 to 62 years with a mean body mass index of 48.4 +/- 8.3 kg/m(2) who were evaluated for gastric bypass surgery were asked to fill out questionnaires assessing eating-related and general psychopathology (depression, self-esteem), as well as the two HRQOL questionnaires. BED was assessed by self-report.


RESULTS
Nineteen (17.3%) patients met criteria for BED. Significant differences between patients with and without BED were found for four of the eight subscales of the SF-36-with effect sizes ranging from 0.44 to 0.75-and for the total score and three of the five subscales of the IWQOL-Lite-with effect sizes from 0.57 to 0.74. The mental composite score of the SF-36 as well as the IWQOL total score correlated significantly with the measures of psychopathology.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study comparing the results of HRQOL measures in morbidly obese presurgery patients with and without BED. The results indicate that BED has a profound negative impact on HRQOL that exceeds the influence of obesity. Both HRQOL measures were able to reliably discriminate between patients with and without BED. Depression and self-esteem influenced HRQOL in a similar way as binge eating.
De Zwaan
Martina
M
The Neuropsychiatric Research Institute and the Department of Neuroscience, Fargo, North Dakota, USA.
Mitchell
James E
JE
Howell
L Michael
LM
Monson
Nancy
N
Swan-Kremeier
Lorraine
L
Roerig
James L
JL
Kolotkin
Ronette L
RL
Crosby
Ross D
RD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002032:Bulimia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015390:Gastric Bypass; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires