Effect of Obesity on Quality of Life in Indian Adults - Cross Sectional Observational Study

Background Obesity is defined as life-long, progressive, life-threatening, costly, genetically-related, multi-factorial disease of excess fat storage with multiple co-morbidities i. e. associated with health problems. Obesity is the most common and costly nutritional problem in India, affecting approximately 35 percent of adults. The aim of the present study is to assess the impact of obesity on quality of life in adult individuals. Methods 205 obese married adult patients (BMI greater than 29.9 kg/m2) from Gujarat state, to whom the following measurement instruments were applied: IWQOL-Lite, Results Obese people have poor quality of life. In present study it was found that BMI was having direct positive relation to QOL as depicted by total score of IWQOL-LITE QUESTIONNARIE. The most affected part in QOL was physical functioning i. e 39.86 %, while the correlation of BMI with physical functioning (0.75) was most. In females, the physical functioning (37.02 %) was most impaired while in male sexual life (57.34 %) was most impaired segment of QOL. Males have poorer QOL as compared to female because of obesity in which the most affected area was sexual life (57.34). BMI even highly correlated with self esteem (0.69). Higher the BMI, lower the self esteem. Conclusions BMI has positive correlation with impairment in quality of life. Males ( 43.72 %) have more affected (34.01 %) quality of life than females because of obesity/ increased BMI.