Lifestyle management improves quality of life and depression in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Objective: To assess the impact of adding exercise to dietary restriction on depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Analysis of depression and quality of life outcomes from a randomized, controlled prospective clinical intervention that evaluated the effects on a range of health outcomes in women with PCOS. Setting: Clinical research unit. Patient(s): One hundred four overweight/obese PCOS women (aged 29.3 ± 0.7 years; body mass index [BMI] 36.1 ± 0.5 kg/m2). Intervention(s): Randomized to one of three 20-week lifestyle programs: diet only, diet and aerobic exercise, or diet and combined aerobic-resistance exercise. Main Outcome Measure(s): Depression and PCOS-specific HRQOL. Result(s): Forty-nine women completed the intervention (diet only = 14, diet and aerobic exercise = 15, diet and combined aerobic-resistance exercise = 20). By week 20 all groups achieved weight loss and had improvements in depression and PCOS-specific HRQOL scores, except for body hair domain score. There was no difference between treatments for all outcomes. Conclusion(s): This study demonstrated that dietary restriction alone and combined with exercise had similar benefits for improving depression and HRQOL scores in overweight and obese women with PCOS.Rebecca L. Thomson, Jonathan D. Buckley, Siew S. Lim, Manny Noakes, Peter M. Clifton, Robert J. Norman and Grant D. Brinkwort