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Health-related quality of life comparisons between women with hirutism and the Swedish normal population. PF = Physical Functioning, RP = Role Physical, BP = Bodily Pain, GH = General Health, VT = vitality, SF = Social Functioning, RE = Role Emotional, MH = Mental Health, PCS = Physical Component Summary, MCS = Mental Component Summary.
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Background
Women with hirsutism have reported imparied health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Social support is a factor that might increase HRQoL in chronic diseases, but little is known about this association among women with hirsutism.AimThe aim of the study was to describe social support and explore its association with HRQoL among...
Citations
... Substantial amount of time spent on hair removal may also contribute to impaired quality of life [20]. Interventions to provide social support have demonstrated efficacy in improving quality of life decrements associated with hirsutism [6,21]. Previous studies also found MH outcomes were associated with severity of hirsutism, suggesting the MH burden may be secondary to hirsutism symptoms [5,17]. ...
... These findings that hirsutism is associated with higher rates of MH hospitalizations and increased length of stay have important public health implications. Previous studies suggest that at least part of the MH burden of hirsutism is secondary to disease-related distress and social stigma, and as such, barriers to outpatient care may contribute to poor disease control and worse MH outcomes [4,5,17,18,21]. Quality of life, depression, and reported psychosocial symptoms correlate with the patient-reported severity of hirsutism [5,8]. Laser treatment for hirsutism resulted in substantial improvement in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores shortly after the procedure, and DLQI scores worsened with the return of unwanted hair [17]. ...
Hirsutism is a common condition characterized by excess hair growth and may lead to psychosocial distress and substantial mental health (MH) burden. These psychosocial manifestations may lead to MH emergencies and hospitalization. However, the prevalence and predictors of MH hospitalization associated with hirsutism are not well-understood. The objective of this study was to determine the likelihood and associations of MH hospitalization among females in the US with hirsutism. Data were analyzed from female inpatients in the 2005–2014 National Inpatient Sample, a representative sample of US hospitalizations. Multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to examine the association of MH hospitalization and comorbidities with hirsutism diagnosis. Patients with hirsutism were more likely to also have a comorbid MH disorder, compared to those without hirsutism (49.5% vs 27.5%, odds ratio [95% CI]: 3.33 [3.14–3.54]), including higher odds of having 14 of the 15 MH disorders studied. Moreover, those with hirsutism had higher odds of hospitalization for a MH disorder in multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for sex, age, and insurance coverage (14.0% vs 3.6%, 3.84 [3.50–4.21]). The mean length of hospital stay (LOS) for a MH disorder was greater among inpatients with vs without hirsutism (12.8 vs 7.1 days, β [95% CI]: 5.71 [4.24–7.18]). There were two-way interactions of hirsutism and MH hospitalization as predictors of longer LOS. Among female inpatients with hirsutism, MH hospitalization was associated with younger age, having health insurance, and longer LOS, and inversely associated with elective admission. In conclusion, female inpatients with hirsutism have higher odds of comorbid MH disorders and MH hospitalizations, with much longer LOS. Patients may benefit from increased access to outpatient follow-up, as poor disease control may contribute to worse MH outcomes and more frequent hospitalization.
... This result was surprising because there is a clear association between dissatisfaction in pubertal body changes and decreased body esteem among teenagers, and lower psychological functioning in adulthood, especially among girls and women with a higher body mass index [42]. Because our data cannot draw conclusions on this or explain this result we can only, based on previous research, assume that psychosocial factors, such as social support and the consequences of stigma on general health and social functioning [43,44] also may play an essential role when living with lipoedema, which should be further studied. ...
Background
Lipoedema is a chronic disease in adipose tissue that almost exclusively affects women during periods of hormonal alterations. Its main symptoms include an abnormal accumulation of subcutaneous fat in the buttock, hips, and legs, which is associated with pain, swelling, and easy bruising. Herein, a grading in three stages is used to determine disease progression. Problematically, lipoedema manifestations are often confused with lifestyle-induced obesity, which is why the various health problems among affected women often remain unrecognized. Overall, research on lipoedema is scarce. As such, this study examined the health, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and sense of coherence (SOC) among women with lipoedema.
Methods
We conducted a national cross-sectional study using an online survey assessing sociodemographic data, lipoedema characteristics, symptom severity, comorbidities, HRQOL (RAND-36), and SOC (SOC-13). In total, 245 women with lipoedema, recruited from all Lipoedema Association groups in Sweden, participated. Data were compiled with descriptive statistics, and mean differences between groups were analysed by using parametric and non-parametric tests.
Results
Moderate and severe leg heaviness, pain, numbness, cold skin, feeling cold, easy bruising, and sleep problems were found to occur in all lipoedema stages. Moreover, almost all participants reported having comorbidities. Worse physical health and most substantial limitations in daily life were reported among women with the most progressive lipoedema (i.e., stage 3). Social and emotional functioning and SOC were found to be, on the other hand, primarily related to respondents’ sociodemographic data and their ages at lipoedema onset. Even though approximately 70% of the women had experienced lipoedema onset before age 30, only three (1.6%) had been diagnosed by a healthcare professional before that age.
Conclusion
Having lipoedema is associated with several health problems and a lower HRQOL. In addition, the extent of delay in diagnosis within this sample indicates that many women with lipoedema are often underdiagnosed and are left without support from healthcare. These findings call for the need for greater attention on lipoedema. Moreover, further studies on how women with lipoedema manage their health and symptoms, as well as on their experiences of healthcare services and lipoedema treatments, are needed.
... As observed, women incorporated in this study reported considerably varying degrees of knowledge of PCOS. Twenty percent had inadequate knowledge (0-9), 36.4% had satisfactory knowledge (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17), and 43.6% had good knowledge (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). The mean knowledge score was determined to be 15.44 AE 7.26 and was graded as satisfactory. ...
... Hirsutism has been noted to have a pronounced negative impact on health-related quality of life, where social support can be of particular help in this regard. 23 In contrast, only an estimated half of the participants agreed that PCOS is a permanent disease that cannot be cured. Literature-based evidence builds upon these beliefs where a broad range of hampering psychological effects are affiliated with PCOS. ...
Introduction Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a multi-spectrum disease where a failure to address it correctly can result in various clinical complications. This study aimed to assess the Lebanese women's knowledge and perceptions of PCOS and its management.
Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study included women whose ages ranged between 18 and 45 years. Women's demographic characteristics, reproductive health, knowledge, and perception of PCOS were analyzed through an online validated questionnaire.
Results Among the 450 included women, 196 (43.6%) had good knowledge about PCOS. The majority of participants were aware that menstrual irregularity is a symptom of PCOS, 327 (72.7%), while only 231 (51.3%) women knew that PCOS may lead to infertility. Almost two-thirds of women were aware of the contribution of metformin, diet, and exercise in refining the progress of the disease. More than 60% of participants believed that PCOS patients need social support and have a low body image. Married women (p < 0.001) and those with undergraduate/ postgraduate degrees (p < 0.001) had better PCOS knowledge.
Conclusion A significant percentage of Lebanese women have inadequate knowledge of PCOS and its complications.
... Zbliżoną częstotliwość występowania hirsutyzmu wśród kobiet z PCOS do tej uzyskanej w pracy własnej zaprezentowali w badaniach M. [21], jednak większość badań wykazała, że owłosienie typu męskiego dotyczy niewiele ponad połowy pacjentek [18,32,33] lub znacząco poniżej połowy [14,17,25,34]. Jednocześnie wskazywano hirsutyzm jako najsilniejszy czynnik powodujący pogorszenie jakości życia, obniżenie samooceny oraz poczucie utraty kobiecości [14,17,20,23,35]. Dowiedziono również korelacji między stopniem nasilenia owłosienia typu męskiego a poczuciem nieadekwatności w sytuacjach seksualnych i społecznych, które może skutkować stopniowym ograniczaniem relacji interpersonalnych oraz społeczną izolacją [18]. ...
Introduction and objective
PCOS is the most commonly diagnosed endocrine disorder among women at reproductive age, often accompanied by insulin resistance (IR). Symptoms of PCOS result in a reduction of the quality of life and psychosocial well-being of the patients. The aim of the study was to assess the selected elements of lifestyle and the presence of psychosocial risks among adult women with PCOS and IR.
Material and methods
The study included 60 women aged 18–35. The author constructed questionnaire was made available electronically among women under care of the Insulin Resistance Foundation – a healthy diet and a healthy life. The modified Ferriman-Gallwey scale was used to quantify the severity of hirsutism. Nutritional status was diagnosed based
on WHO standards (BMI). Statistical analysis was performed using chi 2 test for independence, Mann-Whitney U test and Shapiro-Wilk test. Structural indicators were analyzed in fractions.
Results
Excess body weight was observed in over a half of the patients (f=0.55). More than half of the respondents experienced sleep disorders, and 1/3 libido disorders. In 8 out of 10 patients hirsutism was reported. The majority of respondents experienced a decline in self-esteem (f = 0.85), simultaneously more than 1/3 of them did not feel any social support. Almost 9 out of 10 women reported high or moderate levels of perceived stress. Over 1/3 of the surveyed women (f = 0.38) consumed alcohol at least several times a month.
Conclusions
The presence of health disorders diagnosed as a part of PCOS, including hirsutism, may exacerbate the risks that hinder the psychosocial functioning of the women.
In combination with negative lifestyle patterns, this leads to a reduction in the quality of life.
... An explanation for this might be that alcohol may often be consumed in a moderate and socially accepted way; accordingly, moderate consumption may facilitate social bonding [54]. It has been illustrated that increasing social contact and social support have an association with better health behavior [55,56], which further results in better health outcomes: reduce the chance of being ill and positively influence the overall frailty and its three domains [50,57,58]. While this study did not study on the amount or frequency of alcohol intake, further studies should explore levels of alcohol intake in relation to frailty and its three domains. ...
Abstract Background Frailty is an age-related condition resulting in a state of increased vulnerability regarding functioning across multiple systems. It is a multidimensional concept referring to physical, psychological and social domains. The purpose of this study is to identify factors (demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and health indicators) associated with overall frailty and physical, psychological and social frailty in community-dwelling older people from five European countries. Methods This cross-sectional study used baseline data from 2289 participants of the Urban Health Center European project in five European countries. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess associations of the factors with overall frailty and the three frailty domains. Results The mean age was 79.7 (SD = 5.7). Participants who were older, were female, had secondary or equivalent education, lived alone, not at risk of alcohol use, were less physically active, had multi-morbidity, were malnourished or with a higher level of medication risk, had higher odds of overall frailty (all P
... years. (2). In an another study women were between the ages 24 and 41 years with a mean age of 32.27±4.21 ...
... While the replication of the three-factor structure (Significant Other, Family, and Friends) by EFA in multiple independent studies provides support for the original MSPSS dimensionality, Dambi, Corten (Dambi et al., 2018) pointed out limitations on how EFA was used. For instance, some studies employed EFA with orthogonal rotation (instead of oblique rotation) (Nakigudde et al., 2009;Ekbäck et al., 2013Ekbäck et al., , 2014, which assumes uncorrelated factors. The problem is that moderate correlations are expected between receiving support from a Significant Other, Family, and/or Friends, and these three factors were shown to be correlated in previous MSPSS literature (Dambi et al., 2018). ...
Aim
We aimed to investigate whether the 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) constitutes a valid and reliable measure of social support for the general adult Australian population.
Methods
Data were from Australia’s National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004–2006 and included 3899 participants aged 18 years old and over. The psychometric properties were evaluated with Bayesian confirmatory factor analysis. One-, two-, and three-factor (Significant Other, Family and Friends) structures were tested. Model fit was assessed with the posterior predictive p-value (PPPχ2), Bayesian root mean square error of approximation (BRMSEA), and Bayesian comparative fit index (BCFI). Dimensionality was tested by comparing competing factorial structures with the Bayes factor (BF). Reliability was evaluated with the Bayesian ΩH. Convergent validity was investigated with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and discriminant validity with the Perceived Dental Control scale (PDC-3).
Results
The theoretical three-factor model (Significant Other, Family, and Friends) provided a good fit to the data [PPPχ2 < 0.001, BRMSEA = 0.089-95% credible interval (CrI) (0.088, 0.089); BCFI = 0.963-95% CrI (0.963, 0.964)]. The BF provided decisive support for the three-factor structure in relation to the other structures. The SO [BΩH = 0.95 - 95% CrI (0.90, 0.99)], FA (BΩH = 0.92 - 95% CrI (0.87, 0.97), and FR (BΩH = 0.92 - 95% CrI (0.88, 0.97)] subscales displayed excellent reliability. The MSPSS displayed initial evidence of convergent and discriminant validity.
Conclusion
The MSPSS demonstrated good psychometric properties and excellent reliability in a large Australian sample. This instrument can be applied in national surveys and provide evidence of the role of social support in the Australian population.
... The influence of social support on individuals' disease recovery, coping resources, and HRQoL is notable [67][68][69][70][71]. Several studies demonstrated that, in both Western and Eastern communities, perceived social support is positively associated with HRQoL in certain groups, e.g., those with acute or chronic diseases [72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79], the elderly [80,81], and immigrant workers and employees [82,83]. Across studies to date, higher scores on affective, confidant, and instrumental support correlated with higher physical and mental health scores. ...
The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of some personal characteristics, health variables, and social support on the self-rated health of people in housing exclusion in Spain. For that purpose, we used the FOESSA Survey of Social Integration and Needs database, with a final sample of 1574 households. Being more educated and reporting a good life satisfaction stood out as the main factors preventing worse health status. Furthermore, results showed that being female, experiencing poverty-related food insecurity, not having health insurance, experiencing widowhood or partner bereavement, and having caring responsibilities for others or having a disabled person in the household are associated with increased reporting of regular or poor health. On the other hand, being young, having a diagnosed/long-term illness, and a big household size are preventive factors for good health. These results allowed identifying risk and prevention factors to inform interventions to improve the health of those living in housing exclusion. Promoting better education levels, social support, and overall life satisfaction could be important to improve health in this population. Developing social support policies for caring responsibilities and food insecurity must be a priority to improve the health of people living in housing exclusion.
... The influence of social support on individuals' disease recovery, coping resources, and HRQoL is notable [67][68][69][70][71]. Several studies demonstrated that, in both Western and Eastern communities, perceived social support is positively associated with HRQoL in certain groups, e.g., those with acute or chronic diseases [72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79], the elderly [80,81], and immigrant workers and employees [82,83]. Across studies to date, higher scores on affective, confidant, and instrumental support correlated with higher physical and mental health scores. ...
The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of some personal characteristics, health variables, and social support on the self-rated health of people in housing exclusion in Spain. For that purpose, we used the FOESSA Survey of Social Integration and Needs database, with a final sample of 1574 households. Being more educated and reporting a good life satisfaction stood out as the main factors preventing worse health status. Furthermore, results showed that being female, experiencing poverty-related food insecurity, not having health insurance, experiencing widowhood or partner bereavement, and having caring responsibilities for others or having a disabled person in the household are associated with increased reporting of regular or poor health. On the other hand, being young, having a diagnosed/long-term illness, and a big household size are preventive factors for good health. These results allowed identifying risk and prevention factors to inform interventions to improve the health of those living in housing exclusion. Promoting better education levels, social support, and overall life satisfaction could be important to improve health in this population. Developing social support policies for caring responsibilities and food insecurity must be a priority to improve the health of people living in housing exclusion.
... 33 Other studies proved that increasing social contact and social support were associated with better health behavior and HRQoL. 34,35 In frail people, where physical interventions are not practical, increasing social contact or social support to reduce social frailty could be a proper choice to positively influence HRQoL. 36 A previous study suggested that early identification and intervention can enable frail people to maintain control over their HRQoL for longer. ...
Background:
Studies on the association between frailty and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are scarce and show contradictory results. This study aimed to evaluate the association between physical, psychological and social frailty and HRQoL among community-dwelling older people.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was performed with baseline data collected in 2015 from the Urban Health Centers Europe (UHCE) project in five European countries, the United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia, The Netherlands and Spain. A total of 2325 participants were included in the baseline measurements of the Urban Health Centers Europe project; 2167 participants (mean age = 79.7; SD=5.6) were included in the analyses after excluding participants with missing data. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator measured overall frailty as well as physical, psychological and social frailty. The 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey was used to measured physical and mental HRQoL.
Results:
Regarding physical HRQoL, a large difference (d=1.29) between physically and not physically frail participants was observed. Regarding mental HRQoL, a large difference (d=1.20) between psychologically and not psychologically frail participants was observed. In the full model with all three domains of frailty and the covariates to explain physical HRQoL, physical (P <0.001) and social frailty (P <0.001) remained significant. In the full model to explain mental HRQoL, all three domains of frailty remained significant (P <0.001).
Conclusion:
Physical frailty had the strongest association with physical HRQoL, and psychological frailty had the strongest association with mental HRQoL. The associations between social frailty and both physical and mental HRQoL remain significant when controlling for physical and psychological frailty.
