General population normative scores for interpreting the BODY-Q

Area of Science:

• Plastic Surgery
• Patient-Reported Outcomes
• Obesity Research

Background:

• The BODY-Q is a crucial patient-reported outcome measure for assessing outcomes in patients undergoing weight loss and body contouring surgery.
• Establishing normative values for the BODY-Q is essential for accurate data interpretation and comparative analysis in clinical practice and research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine normative values for the BODY-Q patient-reported outcome measure.
• To provide reference standards for the BODY-Q to enhance the interpretation of patient-reported outcomes following weight loss and body contouring surgery.

Main Methods:

• International recruitment of participants via crowdsourcing platforms.
• General linear analyses were conducted to compare normative means across countries and continents, adjusting for covariates.
• Normative reference values were stratified by age, body mass index (BMI), and gender.

Main Results:

• The BODY-Q was completed by 4051 international participants (49.3% female, 49.9% male), with a mean age of 36 years and mean BMI of 26.4 kg/m².
• Younger age and higher BMI were significantly associated with lower scores across all BODY-Q scales (p < .001).
• Normative reference values were successfully stratified by age, BMI, and gender.

Conclusions:

• This study successfully established normative values for the BODY-Q scales.
• These normative values will significantly aid in the interpretation of BODY-Q scores within research and clinical settings.
• The findings facilitate a better understanding of the impact of weight loss and body contouring surgery on patients' lives.