SPECIFIC SCALE COMPARED WITH GENERIC SCALE - A DOUBLE MEASUREMENT OF THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN A FRENCH COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF OBESE SUBJECTS

Study objective-To determine the aspects of quality of Life that are a ffected by weight in the general population, to develop a specific que stionnaire (OSQOL) that can measure with reliability and validity the impact of overweight and obesity on well being, and to compare the res ults with those obtained using a well known generic tool (the ''SF 36' ' scale). Design-Cross sectional survey with matched control group. Se tting-Community. Patients-A permanent survey base of approximately 10 000 representative ordinary households were screened for weight and he ight. Five hundred subjects were randomly drawn from the sub-sample of adult people with a body mass index equal or greater than 27. A contr ol sample of 500 subjects matched for sex, age, and employment status was drawn from the nonobese population. Main results-A short specific Quality Of Life scale, the OSQOL, was produced that comprises 11 items belonging to four independent dimensions. Using this scale and the SF 36, it was found that: (1) moderately obese subjects (27 less than or equal to BMI <30) did not significantly differ from the control group except for physical capacity; (2) in the group of obese subjects with a BMI >30, quality of life seemed to be impaired for five of nine dime nsions of the SF36 compared with the control population, all related t o physical consequences of obesity. This population essentially percei ved itself in terms of poor general health. (3) No significant differe nce was observed between the samples for the psychological and social dimensions of the SF36. Conclusion-The quality of life of patients wit h severe obesity is impaired, but it mainly affects the physical conse quences of the disease. The psychological and social repercussions tha t could have been expected to affect this population were not demonstr ated. The hypothesis of a process of adaptation of the person and thei r social environment cannot therefore be excluded. Methodologically, c omparison of the specific OSQOL with the generic SF3 shows clearly tha t the two kinds of scales correspond to different objectives and shoul d be considered as complementary.