Abstract
� 2016 The Author(s). Background: Few studies have assessed whether the amelioration of the clinical signs of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) achieved by treatment leads to improvement in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients. This study was aimed to examine the HRQoL of ethnic Chinese women with PCOS who received metformin treatment. Methods: This prospective study was conducted at a medical center in Taiwan. Study participants aged 18-45 years were diagnosed as having PCOS according to the Rotterdam criteria, and all received metformin treatment. Their HRQoL was assessed using generic (WHOQOL-Bref) and PCOS-specific (Chi-PCOSQ) instruments. Mixed effect models were used to examine the effects of metformin on repeatedly measured HRQoL. Additional analyses using stratified patients characteristics (overweight vs. normal; hyperandrogenism vs. non-hyperandrogenism) were done. Results: We recruited 109 participants (56 % were overweight, 80 % had hyperandrogenism). Among the domain scores of WHOQOL-Bref, the psychological domain score was the lowest one (12.64�2.2, range 4-20). Weight (3.25�1.59, range 1-7) and infertility (3.38�1.93, range 1-7) domain scores were relatively low among the domain scores of Chi-PCOSQ. Overweight and hyperandrogenic patients had significantly lower HRQoL as compared with those of normal weight and non-hyperandrogenic patients, respectively. Metformin significantly improved the physical domain of WHOQOL-Bref (p=0.01), and the infertility (p=0.043) and acne and hair loss aspects (p=0.008) of PCOS-specific HRQoL. In the subgroup analysis, significantly improved HRQoL following metformin treatment appeared for only overweight and hyperandrogenism subgroups. Conclusions: Metformin might improve health-related quality of life of polycystic ovary syndrome women by ameliorating psychological disturbances due to acne, hair loss and infertility problems, especially for overweight and hyperandrogenic patients.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 119 |
Journal | Health and Quality of Life Outcomes |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 24 Aug 2016 |
Keywords
- Chinese
- Health-related quality of life
- Hyperandrogenism
- Metformin
- Overweight
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health