• Annalisa Panico, Giovanni Messina, Gelsy Arianna Lupoli, Roberta Lupoli, Marianna Cacciapuoti, Fiorenzo Moscatelli, Teresa Esposito, Ines Villano, Anna Valenzano, Vincenzo Monda, Antonietta Messina, Francesco Precenzano, Giuseppe Cibelli, Marcellino Monda, and Giovanni Lupoli.
• Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy.
• Patient Prefer Adher. 2017 Jan 1; 11: 423-429.

ObjectivePolycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by phenotypic heterogeneity and has a wide variety of consequences. Approximately half of women with PCOS are overweight or obese, and their obesity may be a contributing factor to PCOS pathogenesis through different mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate if PCOS alone affects the patients' quality of life and to what extent obesity contributes to worsen this disease.DesignTo evaluate the impact of PCOS on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), 100 Mediterranean women with PCOS (group A), 50 with a body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 (group A1) and 50 with BMI <25 kg/m2 (group A2), were recruited. They were evaluated with a specific combination of standardized psychometric questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised, the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, and the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Questionnaire. The patients were compared with a normal-weight healthy control group of 40 subjects (group B). Another control group of 40 obese healthy women (group C) was used to make a comparison with PCOS obese patients (A1).ResultsOur results showed a considerable worsening of HRQoL in PCOS patients (A) compared with controls (B). In addition, patients with PCOS and BMI >25 (A1) showed a significant and more marked reduction in scores, suggesting a lower quality of life, compared with controls (B) and with normal-weight PCOS patients (A2).ConclusionPCOS is a complex disease that alone determines a deterioration of HRQoL. The innovative use of these psychometric questionnaires in this study, in particular the PCOS questionnaire, has highlighted that obesity has a negative effect on HRQoL. It follows that a weight decrease is associated to phenotypic spectrum improvement and relative decrement in psychological distress.

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