RESUMO
Morbid obesity has been widely studied due to its high incidence and its bad consequences to health. Studies about obesity have been emphasized some important aspects such as eating styles and quality of life. This study aim to investigate the eating styles and the quality of life of women with morbid obesity, patients in treatment at the Ambulatory of Eating Disorders, University Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo. Sixty women were assessed, 30 obese (Body Mass Index--BMI > or = 40 kg/m2) and 30 nonobese (BMI 20 to 25 kg/m2). A semi-structured interview, the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire and the Short-form Health Survey: Medical Outcomes Study were used for the assessment, after translate to portuguese and adapted. The data were rated and quantified and the groups were statistically analyzed through the Tests of Mann-Whitney. The groups differed significantly as for restrained (p < or = 0.001) and emotional eating (p < or = 0.01), and did not differ as for external eating. The groups also differed in quality of life, concerning physical and social limitations (p < or = 0.001), the presence of emotional indicators (p < or = 0.001) and general health condition (p < or = 0.001). Findings suggest that eating styles contribute to explain the difficult of eating control--but are not only factor in the obesity characterization. Moreover, morbidly obese women presented a quality of life more compromised and have an adequate perception of their physical, social and emotional limitations. That might favor a therapeutic approach to them.
