Health-Related Quality of Life and Psychological Distress in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Hidden Facet in South Asian Women

    December 2010 in “ Bjog: An International Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynaecology ”
    V. Kumarapeli, Ruwanthi de A. Seneviratne, CN Wijeyaratne
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    TLDR South Asian women with PCOS experience more psychological distress and have a poorer quality of life, especially in social relationships, with hirsutism affecting them more than obesity.
    The study conducted in Sri Lanka with 146 women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and 170 controls found that women with PCOS had significantly higher psychological distress, with a mean General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ30) score of 5.25 compared to 1.58 in controls. Hirsutism was significantly associated with this distress. Women with PCOS also had lower scores in all domains of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), indicating poorer health-related quality of life (HRQoL), especially in social relationships. No significant predictors of HRQoL were identified in the multivariate analysis. The study highlighted that South Asian women with PCOS did not perceive excess body weight as a factor affecting their psychological wellbeing and HRQoL, contrasting with perceptions in white Europeans with PCOS. The study concluded that PCOS adversely affects psychological wellbeing and HRQoL in South Asian women, with hirsutism being a more significant concern than obesity.
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