Impact of weight loss on Health-Related Quality of Life

To examine the effect of treatment-induced weight loss on Health-Related Qu ality of Life (HRQL), 38 mildly-to-moderately overweight persons recruited to participate in a study to examine the efficacy of a lifestyle modificati on treatment program completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Beck D epression Inventory (BDI), the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Sur vey (SF-36, as an assessment of HRQL), and underwent a series of clinical e valuations prior to treatment. After baseline evaluations, participants wer e randomly assigned to either a program of lifestyle physical activity or a program of traditional aerobic activity. Participants again completed the SF-36 and BDI after the 13-week treatment program had ended. Weight loss av eraged 8.6 +/- 2.8 kg over the 13-week study. We found that weight loss was associated with significantly higher scores (enhanced HRQL), relative to b aseline, on the physical functioning, role-physical, general health, vitali ty and mental health domains of the SF-36. The largest improvements were wi th respect to the vitality, general health perception and role-physical dom ains. There were no significant differences between the lifestyle and aerob ic activity groups on any of the study measures. These data indicate that, at least in the short-term, weight loss appears to profoundly enhance HRQL.