Quality of life in schizophrenia: Impact of psychopathology, patients' gender and antipsychotic treatment

Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) was evaluated in 100 schizophrenic patients treated with classic or atypical neuroleptics in a day hospital. The severity of schizophrenia was evaluated with the PANSS scale and QoL with the SF36 questionnaire. Both the patients' global QoL and several QoL domains improved after treatment. The QoL of female and male patients did not differ at baseline, but the improvement after treatment was greater in female patients, and in female patients the QoL improvement correlated positively with the improvement in PANSS general symptoms. The severity of depressive symptoms of schizophrenic patients correlated inversely with the total QoL, at both the start and end of the study. The improvement of general schizophrenic and depressive symptoms correlated positively with the improvement in QoL. The improvement in QoL in patients treated with classic neuroleptics differed only insignificantly after treatment, in comparison to that in patients receiving 'old' atypical drugs. However, the negative correlation between QoL improvement and improvement in PANSS total score, as well as in PANSS depressive symptoms, was found only among patients treated with classic neuroleptics. Neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal symptoms were more severe in patients receiving classic neuroleptics but these did not have an impact on patients' QoL. ( Int J Psych Clin Pract 2001; 5:19-26).