Quality of life in obesity at perimenopausal age in obese women and women with proper body mass index

Background
Obesity is a global-scale epidemic of the 21st century, leading to numerous psychophysical complications. The objective of this paper is to analyse the quality of life at perimenopausal age in the group of obese women, and to compare the findings with those obtained in the group of women with proper body mass.

Material and methods
There were two equal research groups included in the study. In the first group there were 50 obese women BMI (m) = 36.5, patients of the Obesity Treatment Ward. In the other group, there were 50 normal-weight women BMI (m) = 24.1, primary care patients from Warminsko-Mazurskie Province. The research tool used in the study was The World Health Organization Quality-of-Life Scale − WHOQL-BREF.

Results
Differences between the group of obese women and the one with healthy body mass turned out to be statistically significant p<0.05 in the general quality of life t(sd) = -3.21(98), general quality of health t(sd) =-3.96(98), physical health t(sd) = -3.11(98), psychological health t(sd) = -3.67(98), social relationship t(sd) = -2.76(98) and environment t(sd) = -2.86(98).

Conclusions
Results of the study showed significantly lower quality of life in all measured domains in obese women in comparison to those with proper body mass.