Background:
Morbid obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are prevalent
diseases associated with impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Research generally indicates
that persons with morbid obesity increase their HRQoL following intervention, whereas evidence of
increases in HRQoL in persons with COPD is mixed. Examining the patterns of change over time
instead of merely examining whether HRQoL changes will add to the knowledge in this field.
Methods:
A sample of persons with morbid obesity and persons with COPD was recruited from
learning and mastery courses and rehabilitation centers in Norway. The data were collected by
self-report questionnaires at the start of patient education and at four subsequent time points
during the 1-year follow-up. HRQoL was measured with the Short Form 12, version 2, and
repeated measures analysis of variance was employed in the statistical analysis.
Results:
Participants with morbid obesity linearly increased their physical HRQoL during
the 1-year follow-up, whereas participants with COPD showed no change. None of the groups
changed their mental HRQoL during follow-up. In all subdomains of HRQoL, the participants
with morbid obesity showed favorable, linearly increasing trajectories across the follow-up
period. Among the participants with COPD, no change patterns occurred in the subdomains of
HRQoL, except for a fluctuating pattern in the mental health domain. Age, sex, and work status
did not influence the trajectories of HRQoL in any of the domains.
Conclusion:
A more favorable trajectory of HRQoL was found for persons with morbid obesity
than for persons with COPD, possibly due to the obese persons’ better chances of recovery.