The Real-World Impact of Obesity on Quality of Life and Work Productivity in Spain: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study Involving Physicians and Individuals With Obesity

Background: Understanding how overweight and obesity impact quality of life, psychological well-being, and social functioning is essential for informing and optimizing patient-centric disease management strategies. Aims: This study aims to investigate the humanistic burden of excess body weight in adults with overweight or obesity enrolled in weight management programs under routine clinical practice settings in Spain, including emotional well-being, health-related quality of life, and work productivity and activity impairment, the latter assessed via validated patient-reported outcome instruments (36-Item Short Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-36v2) and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI)). Methods: The study uses data from the multinational Adelphi Obesity Disease Specific Programme™, a cross-sectional survey with retrospective data collection conducted in Spain (November 2023 to March 2024). Adults with a prior/current diagnosis of obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m²) or overweight (BMI ≥27 kg/m²) with ≥1 obesity-related comorbidity, enrolled in a weight management program, were eligible. Physicians collected clinical data from the medical records of their first eight eligible patients, who were invited to complete a voluntary questionnaire including emotional impact and patient-reported outcome measures: SF-36v2 (T-scores <47 = impaired functioning), evaluating health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and WPAI (0 = no effect; 100% = completely prevented activity). Descriptive analyses were performed overall and by BMI and Edmonton Obesity Staging System-defined subgroups. Results: A total of 106 physicians reported data from 801 eligible adults, of whom 330 (41.2%) provided self-reported data; 88.3% (n = 707) presented ≥1 obesity-related disease, commonly hypertension (41.2%, n = 330), dyslipidemia (32.8%, n = 263), and anxiety (18.9%, n = 151); 77.4% (n = 620) were on supervised diet, and 58.6% (n = 469) followed guided exercise programs. 54.2% (n=195) experienced weight loss followed by regain. Difficulties maintaining diet and exercise programs (58.8%, n=190) and insufficient weight loss (50.2%, n=162) were the main reasons cited for discontinuing weight loss efforts. Mean SF-36v2 scores were <47 for all domains except vitality, indicating impairment across multiple dimensions. On average, participants reported that 18.8% of their work productivity and 29.7% of their daily activities were impaired due to overweight/obesity. Conclusion: In Spain, analysis suggests that overweight and obesity may be associated with lower HRQoL and decreased levels of daily and work productivity.