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A pulse-based diet and the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet in combination with health counseling and exercise improve health-related quality of life in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial

M. Kazemi, Laura E McBreairty, G. Zello, R. Pierson, Julianne J. Gordon, Shani B Serrao, P. Chilibeck, D. Chizen

Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2020

30 citations

Abstract

Abstract Objective: A favorable dietary composition to increase health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in PCOS remains unclear. We compared changes in HRQoL of women with PCOS who participated in a low-glycemic-index pulse-based (lentils, beans, split peas, and chickpeas) or the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet intervention. Methods: Thirty women in the pulse-based and 31 in the TLC groups (18–35 years) completed a 16-week intervention without energy-restriction. Groups participated in health counseling (monthly) and aerobic exercise (5 days/week; 45 minutes/day). Results: Fifty-five (90.2%) women completed a PCOS-specific HRQoL survey. Greatest mean increases in time-effects occurred in the domains of healthy eating, PCOS knowledge, active living, healthcare satisfaction, feelings and experiences about intervention, and health concerns, respectively (p ≤ 0.02), without group-by-time interactions (p ≥ 0.13). Decreased weight (r = −0.35) and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (r = −0.18) correlated with increased scores of PCOS knowledge; adherence to intervention correlated with increased scores of active living (r = 0.39) and healthy eating (r = 0.53; p ≤ 0.03). Conclusions: Both interventions improved HRQoL scores in women with PCOS without prescribed energy-restriction. Our observations add novel insights into current evidence and elucidate the need for future psychological research to target lifestyle modifications for improving HRQoL and unique…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a secondary / pooled analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence.

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