Perception of stress and quality of life in overweight and obese people--implications for preventive consultancies in primary care.
BACKGROUND
The increasing prevalence of obesity requires especially primary health care providers to act. General Practitioners (GP) in particular have the opportunity to motivate patients in early risk stages to follow weight reduction programmes before manifestation of associated diseases. In order to conduct preventive consultancies it is necessary to explore the individual physical and mental health status of patients. Aim of this study was to examine quality of life and perceived level of stress in overweight and obese patients treated in primary care.


METHODS
123 patients, following a health Check up realized by their GP, rated self- reported questionnaires regarding quality of life and perceived level of stress (SF-12, PSS). Following descriptive analysis, differences in dependent variables related to BMI, sex and age were tested using ANOVA and regression analysis (SPSSv15.0).


RESULTS
Restrictions in all parameters of mental health for overweight and obese patients in primary care were shown. Especially patients with a BMI above 30 kg/m2 reported a decreased level of quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
Health care providers should be aware of cumulative restrictions in mental health of their overweight patients. The findings provide essential implications for all health care professionals in primary care doing preventive consultancies with obese clients.
Metz
Ulrike
U
Institute for General Practice and Family Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. ulrike.metz@charite.de
Welke
Justus
J
Esch
Tobias
T
Renneberg
Babette
B
Braun
Vittoria
V
Heintze
Christoph
C
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*