Obesity Continues to be Associated With Poor Health-Related Quality of Life During the Third Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Speaker(s)

Madhavan S1, Roy A2, Chhetri S3, Rasu R4, Roy S5, Sambamoorthi U6
1University of North Texas, System College of Pharmacy, Fort Worth, TX, USA, 2West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA, 3University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Argyle, TX, USA, 4University of North Texas Health Sciences Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA, 5Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham Park, NJ, USA, 6University of North Texas Health Sciences Center, Denton, TX, USA

Presentation Documents

OBJECTIVES: In view of the increased obesity rates in the United States (US) during COVID-19, a closer scrutiny of the relationship between obesity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) during this period is warranted. As patient-centeredness becomes integral to care, HRQoL assessments can inform comparative effectiveness of interventions to reduce the clinical and economic burden of obesity. Therefore, we assessed the association of obesity with HRQoL among adults in the US.

METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of data on adults(age>18 years;N =296,264 representing 156.5 million adults) from 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey was used. We used 4 indicator variables to measure poor HRQoL:1) >14 poor physical health days;2) >14 poor mental health days; 3) activity limitation, and 4) a composite index with a cutoff point of >3. Separate multivariable logistic regressions assessed the relationship of obesity with poor HRQoL after adjusting for age, sex, race&ethnicity, social determinants of health, chronic conditions, lifestyle factors, and long COVID that may affect HRQoL. Obesity was measured using the CDC definition based on body mass index (BMI).

RESULTS: Overall, 34.5%(~54 million) adults were obese;12.8% had poor physical and 15.7% had poor mental HRQoL. A higher percentage of adults with obesity reported poor physical(16.6% vs. 10.2%) and mental(18.3% vs. 15.2%) health, activity limitations(12.6% vs 8.3%), and poor HRQol based on composite index (10.0% vs. 5.8%) compared to those with normal BMI. In adjusted analyses, adults with obesity were more likely to report poor physical (aOR=1.11, 95% CI=1.04,1.19) and mental (aOR = 1.61, 95% CI=1.35,1.93) health, activity limitations (aOR = 1.38, 95% CI=1.13,1.70), and poor HRQoL (aOR = 1.78, 95% CI=1.40,2.25) compared to those with normal BMI.

CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one in 3 adults were obese during the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity continued to be associated with multiple dimensions of poor HRQoL during this period.

Code

EPH105

Topic

Epidemiology & Public Health, Methodological & Statistical Research, Patient-Centered Research, Study Approaches

Topic Subcategory

Patient-reported Outcomes & Quality of Life Outcomes, PRO & Related Methods, Public Health, Surveys & Expert Panels

Disease

Diabetes/Endocrine/Metabolic Disorders (including obesity), No Additional Disease & Conditions/Specialized Treatment Areas