Prevalence of ovarian cysts and their effect on health-related quality of life in adolescent females: A single-facility cross-sectional study in Armenia.

Objective: This study primarily aimed to assess the impact of ovarian cysts on the health-related quality of life of adolescent females who visited Beglaryan Medical Center between 2019 and 2021. The study also aimed to investigate the effects of body mass index (BMI) and the type of diagnosed ovarian cyst on health-related quality of life.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study. The study population comprised 417 adolescent females. Participants were separated into three groups based on the presence of an ovarian pathology in their history. The first was the operated group (n = 105), consisting of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cysts based on ultrasound investigation and who underwent unilateral ovarian cystectomy. The second was the cyst group (n = 102), which included participants with a confirmed diagnosis of ovarian cysts with a diameter of 5 cm or more based on ultrasound investigation and who were not operated on. The third group was the no-cyst group (n = 210), which included participants with no diagnosed ovarian cyst. Key variables extracted for this study included age, age at menarche, BMI, diagnosis of ovarian pathology, and Short Form Health Survey-12 (SF-12) questionnaire results, which were categorized into physical and mental components and types of cysts, which were classified as no cyst, endometroid, dermoid, cystadenoma, and unspecified. Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM version 23.0.0 SPSS statistical package. Means and standard deviation (SD) were used for continuous variables, while numbers and percentages were used to report categorical variables. One-way ANOVA was used for variables that showed homogeneity of variance on Levene's test, while Welch's ANOVA was used for variables that violated homogeneity of variances.

Results: Participants' mean age and age at menarche were 16.3 ± 1.4 and 11.3 ± 1.1, respectively. The mean physical component scores among participants from the operated and cyst groups were in the low-average range (36.4 ± 8.51 and 35.71 ± 10.70, respectively), while those of the no-cyst group were in the moderate-to-average range with a mean of 58.21 ± 1.61. When considering the type of cyst. The physical component scores were highest among those with no cyst (m = 55.23 ± 8.09) and lowest among those with a cystadenoma (m = 30.84 ± 6.74). In contrast, those with no cyst had the highest mental component score (m = 48.54 ± 10.87), and those with endometroid cysts had the lowest score (m = 31.87 ± 6.82). Moreover, those with a normal BMI had the highest mean scores in both the physical and mental components (m = 50.83 ± 12.04 and m = 45.07 ± 12.07, respectively), while those with class II obesity had the lowest physical and mental component mean scores (m = 37.01 ± 2.52 and m = 32.61 ± 5.53, respectively).

Conclusion: The physical and mental health-related quality of life in adolescent females can be negatively affected by the presence of an ovarian cyst, the type of cyst, and the BMI of the patient. Our hypothesis was confirmed, showing significant differences in the physical and mental components among the participants, with the majority scoring lower than the regional mean.