Predictors of quality of life in inpatients with schizophrenia

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 197; no. 3; pp. 199 - 205
• Main Authors: Fujimaki, Koichiro, Morinobu, Shigeru, Yamashita, Hidehisa, Takahashi, Terumichi, Yamawaki, Shigeto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30-05-2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Antipsychotic Agents - adverse effects; Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Cholinergic Antagonists - therapeutic use; Cognition Disorders - complications; Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced - psychology; Educational Status; Female; Humans; Inpatients; Inpatients - psychology; Japan; Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Negative symptoms; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Quality of life; Quality of Life - psychology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - drug therapy; Schizophrenic Psychology; Statistics as Topic - methods; Japan; Schizophrenia; Inpatients; Negative symptoms; Quality of life; Psychosis; Negative symptom; Predictive factor
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.10.023

Abstract Shortening hospital stays has become a key focus in psychiatric care in recent years. However, patients with schizophrenia account for about 60% of inpatients in psychiatry departments in Japan. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and key indicators for long-term hospital stays among schizophrenia inpatients. A further aim was to elucidate the clinical determinants of QOL among long-stay inpatients. The study sample consisted of 217 inpatients with schizophrenia. Age, duration of illness, duration of hospitalization, years of education, body mass index, neurocognitive function, drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms, involuntary movements, psychiatric symptoms, and dose equivalents of antipsychotics and anticholinergic agents were used as index factors. Pearson linear correlation and regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between QOL and the above-mentioned factors. Negative symptoms, psychological discomfort, and resistance as rated on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) were correlated with all subscale scores of the Japanese version of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (JSQLS). Stepwise regression showed that negative symptoms, psychological discomfort, and resistance predicted the dysfunction of psycho-social activity score and the dysfunction of motivation and energy score on the JSQLS. This study shows that active treatment for negative symptoms, psychological discomfort, and resistance should be recommended to improve QOL among inpatients with schizophrenia.