Quality of life in schizophrenic patients: Comparative study from South India

Abstract

Objective: To assess and compare the quality of life (QoL) in patients with schizophrenia with apparently normal controls. Materials and Methods: A secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study that was carried out in the outpatient psychiatry clinics at a South Indian referral center. Thirty consecutive patients and 30 apparently normal individuals fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria formed the study group. Demographic data for the study population were collected. Schizophrenia was diagnosed as per criteria of the ICD-10th revision and measured using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and general psychopathology scale. Outcome measures were measured using the World Health Organization (WHO)-QoL-brief version (BREF) instrument. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and appropriate inferential statistics using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of demographic factors between the schizophrenic patients and controls. The QoL-WHO-BREF score of schizophrenic patients was 82.33 ± 12.34 and for controls it was 90.9 ± 8.41 (P = 0.003). The individual domains of physical and psychological spheres differed significantly between the schizophrenic patients and controls. Individual domain scores varied significantly in occupation. The PANSS positive subscore was correlated with QoL score and there was a statistical significance. Discussion: The deleterious effects of schizophrenia on QoL occur significantly. Management should be planned with this consideration to yield better outcomes.

Keywords

• Psychopathology
• quality of life (QoL)
• schizophrenia
• South India
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• brief version (BREF)