Abstract
Cosmetic procedures, especially cosmetic minimally invasive treatments, are rising
in popularity, despite societal perception that these procedures may not improve patient
health. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and controlled
meta-analysis to compare the effects of cosmetic procedures and antidepressant treatment
on health-related quality-of-life improvement. The PubMed database was queried in
two independent searches to identify peer-reviewed cosmetic and antidepressant articles
published between 1996 and 2017 that prospectively assessed the impact of the treatment
on quality of life. All results were screened using defined exclusion and inclusion
criteria and data were extracted using a standardized protocol. The meta-analysis
was performed using a random-effects model. Five of 2,788 cosmetic studies and eight
of 2,312 antidepressant studies met all inclusion criteria and utilized the 36-Item
Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) measure. Except for the physical functioning scale,
when compared with the cosmetic studies, antidepressant studies had significantly
lower median baseline and post-treatment follow-up scale scores with larger median
score improvement (p < 0.05). Positive effect sizes following treatment were observed for all eight SF-36
scales (range: 0.32–1.16; p < 0.05). This meta-analysis provides evidence that cosmetic procedures objectively
improve a patient's health-related quality of life. While antidepressant studies exhibited
greater SF-36 score improvement except for the physical functioning scale, both treatment
groups demonstrated the greatest improvement in mental health and role emotional scales.
As previously suggested, a disconnect exists between score improvement and clinical
improvement due to baseline severity, ceiling effect, and regression to the mean effects.
Keywords
quality of life - aesthetic surgery - cosmetic surgery - antidepressant therapy -
SF-36
