O. G. Yushkovskaya, A. L. Plakida

Quality of life and obesity in students taking into account gender differences

ODESSA NATIONAL MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, ODESSA, UKRAINE

Quality of life is an integral characteristics of a person's physical, psychological, emotional, and social functioning, based on his/her subjective perception. Studies of recent years have shown that the level of quality of life is closely associated with a feeling of satisfaction with one's body, especially in adolescents and young people. One of the most significant criteria for dissatisfaction is overweight. In this regard, of considerable interest is the study of student contingent, as potentially vulnerable to the occurrence of overweight. The purpose of the study was to study gender differences in assessing the quality of life associated with overweight in students. Students from I–IV courses of Odessa National Medical University were selected for the study, 26 young females and 22 young males with overweight and obesity aged 18 to 24 years. The control group consisted of 30 young females and 30 young males of similar age with normal body weight. The study of the conditions and lifestyle of the surveyed students with overweight confirms the last decade tendency of an increase in the prevalence of bad habits among students, disturbance of diet and sleep at night, and low levels of physical activity. Analysis of the personal data on the nature of food habits showed the prevalence of rare irregular eating, the wrong distribution of the daily diet. The results of quality of life assessment in students by two indicators — the physical component of health and the psychological component of health, revealed significant differences mainly in the psychological component. It was shown that the psychological aspect of this problem for young females seems to be more significant than for young males which indicates a greater psychological dependence of females on feelings of satisfaction with their bodies.