Effectiveness of Multimodular Interventions of Lifestyle Modification on Symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Quality of Life among Women- A Quasi-experimental Study

Introduction: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder encountered in female. Multimodular interventions of lifestyle modifications emphasise bearable weight loss through dietary, exercise, and behavioural modification. The timely recognition, understanding, and handling of clinical characteristics of this syndrome shall prevent long-term health issues.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of multimodular interventions on symptoms of PCOS and the quality of life of women with PCOS.

Materials and Methods: A pilot study was conducted at Father Muller College of Nursing, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India, between May 2019 to February 2020. The female diagnosed with PCOS were selected through a purposive sampling technique, from two tertiary settings (15 subjects for the intervention group and 15 for the control group). The multimodular interventions (diet, exercises, and behavioural modifications) were provided to the study group. Follow-up was done in the 2nd, 4th and 6th month. The control group subjects continued the regular medical treatment and followed-up at 6th month. The intervention and control group results were compared in the 6th month. The tools used for data collection were baseline variables, PCOS symptom assessment tool, and World Health Organisation Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) tool.

Results: The mean age of study participants was 24.26±3.84 years in the intervention, and 24.20±3.54 years in the control group. A significant improvement in the waist-hip ratio, hirsutism acne (p-value <0.001) and quality of life in women with PCOS was observed in the post-test 2 (2nd month), post-test 3 (4th month), and post-test 4 (6th month) in the intervention group (p-value <0.001). A minimal change was noticed in the Body Mass Index (BMI) and Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) scores. The Mann-Whitney test (z values) revealed a significant difference in the symptoms of PCOS of waist-hip ratio (z value=3.328, p-value <0.001) and hirsutism (z-value 2.296, p-value <0.022) between intervention and control group after the 6 months. The pretest mean and standard deviation of physical health domain was 21.00±2.59, psychological health domain 18.13±3.04, social relationship 9.27±1.67, and environmental domain 23.00±3.66. The post-test mean and standard deviation was 24.00±3.05, 22.67±4.03, 12.20±1.74, 28.07±6.71 (p-value <0.001) in physical, psychological, social, and environmental domain, respectively. A statistically significant increase in quality of life observed in the intervention group (p-value <0.001) whereas in the control group there was no change.

Conclusion: The multimodular interventions were found to be effective in reducing the clinical symptoms of PCOS like hirsutism acne and the quality of life steeply improved after 6 months of these interventions in PCOS women.