Assessment of health-related quality of life among obese patients in Abha, Saudi Arabia.

CONTEXT

Numerous studies have demonstrated that obese individuals experience significant impairments in quality of life as a result of their obesity, with greater impairments associated with greater degrees of obesity.

AIMS

To assess the quality of life (QOL) and its clinical and sociodemographic determinants among adolescents and adult obese patients (>12 years old) attending obesity and/or nutritional clinics at Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, KSA.

SETTING AND STUDY DESIGN

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Aseer central hospital.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was carried out among a representative sample of all obese patients attending nutrition and obesity clinic at Aseer central hospital for a period of 2 months. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) ver. 20 was used to do the statistical analyses.

RESULTS

Overall, 198 obese patients completed the questionnaire and measurements gave a response rate of 84.3%. Their age ranged between 19 and 56 years with a mean age of 31.6 years and standard deviation of 6 years. In total, 56.1% were females.

CONCLUSIONS

The study showed that the severe obese individuals (grade 3) suffer from poorer health-related QOL (HRQOL) compared to those of grades 1 and 2, as the increase in body mass index (BMI) lowers the HRQOL domains.