Objectives: This study involved a naturalistic, prospective project assessing objective and subjective dimensions of quality of life (QoL) and the range of its putative determinants in first-episode schizophrenia.
Methods: Seventy-four patients, mean age 24.7 years, participated in the study. The patients were assessed 1 month following the first hospitalisation (Time 1), 12 months later (Time 2), and 4-6 years after Time 1 (Time 3). The Social Functioning Scale and World Health Organisation Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were applied to evaluate objective and subjective QoL, respectively. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was used to examine psychopathological status, and the Global Assessment Scale was applied to evaluate social adjustment prior to hospitalisation.
Results: The objective and subjective QoL was relatively low at Time 1. Over time, the objective QoL improved in three domains, decreased in one domain, and remained stable in three domains. The subjective QoL did not change. The most important predictors of both dimensions of QoL were psychopathology and duration of untreated psychosis.
Conclusions: Because psychopathology seems to have the greatest impact on the QoL, there is a need to develop community psychosocial treatment to reduce these symptoms and to support patients in the early phase of the disease.