Background: Studies have identified numerous factors that may affect the sleep quality and quality of life (QOL) in outpatients with schizophrenia. However, the clinically stable inpatients who represent a large proportion of the population with schizophrenia in China have not received enough attention. The present study was performed to explore the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of sleep disturbance and QOL in clinically stable inpatients with schizophrenia in rural China.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed, and 207 clinically stable inpatients with schizophrenia were selected from Chifeng Anding Hospital, located in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in northern China. All subjects were interviewed by the same investigator using standardized assessment instruments. QOL and sleep disturbance were measured using the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (SQLS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were used to identify the factors influencing sleep disturbance and QOL. Antipsychotics taken by individuals were converted into olanzapine equivalent doses as the main confounding factor to be controlled.
Results: The prevalence of sleep disturbance was 58%, and sleep disturbance was significantly associated with depression (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.17-1.52) and coping mechanisms (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.98). We observed large differences between the sexes: the QOL of male inpatients with schizophrenia was substantially better than that of female inpatients, with a standard coefficient of 0.19 ± 1.62. Other factors related to QOL were depression (0.42 ± 0.30), hope (- 0.21 ± 0.19), general psychopathology symptoms (0.21 ± 0.24) and personal and social performance (- 0.12 ± 0.07).
Conclusions: The depressive symptoms of inpatients with schizophrenia should receive more attention. More targeted interventions, such as the early identification and treatment of depression, should be promptly administered to improve the patient's hospitalization experience.
Keywords: Quality of life; Rural China; Schizophrenia; Sleep disturbance.