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Obesity Surgery
Published in: Obesity Surgery 10/2007

Open Access 01-10-2007

The Health-Related Quality of Life of Obese Persons Seeking or Not Seeking Surgical or Non-surgical Treatment: a Meta-analysis

Authors: Annemieke M. A. van Nunen, MSc, Eveline J. M. Wouters, MD, Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets, PhD, Joop J. Hox, PhD, Rinie Geenen, PhD

Published in: Obesity Surgery | Issue 10/2007

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Background

This meta-analysis examined differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) between seekers of surgical and non-surgical treatment, and non-treatment seekers, over and above differences that are explained by weight, age, and gender.

Methods

Our literature search focused on the ‘Impact of Weight on Quality of Life-Lite’ (IWQOL-Lite) and the ‘Short Form-36’ (SF-36) questionnaires. Included were studies published between 1980 and April 2006 providing pre-treatment descriptive statistics of adult overweight, obese or morbidly obese persons. Excluded were elderly and ill patient groups.

Results

54 articles, with a total number of nearly 100,000 participants, met the inclusion criteria. Persons seeking surgical treatment demonstrated the most severely reduced HRQoL. IWQOL-Lite scores showed larger differences between populations than SF-36 scores. After adjustment for weight, the population differences on the IWQOL disappeared. In contrast, the differences on the SF-36 between the surgical treatment seeking population and the other populations were maintained after adjustment for weight.

Conclusion

The IWQOL-Lite questionnaire predominantly reflects weight-related HRQoL, whereas the SF-36 mostly reflects generic HRQoL that is determined by both weight and other factors. Our metaanalysis provides reference values that are useful when explaining or evaluating obesity-specific (IWQOL-Lite) or generic (SF-36) HRQoL, weight, and demographic characteristics of obese persons seeking or not seeking surgical or non-surgical treatment.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
The Health-Related Quality of Life of Obese Persons Seeking or Not Seeking Surgical or Non-surgical Treatment: a Meta-analysis
Authors
Annemieke M. A. van Nunen, MSc
Eveline J. M. Wouters, MD
Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets, PhD
Joop J. Hox, PhD
Rinie Geenen, PhD
Publication date
01-10-2007
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Obesity Surgery / Issue 10/2007
Print ISSN: 0960-8923
Electronic ISSN: 1708-0428
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-007-9241-9

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