Quality of Life of Individuals with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Hidayet Ece Arat Çelik; Deniz Ceylan; Başak Bağcı; Berna Binnur Akdede; Köksal Alptekin; Ayşegül Özerdem

doi:10.29399/npa.28089

Quality of Life of Individuals with Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Noro Psikiyatr Ars. 2022 Nov 10;59(4):309-314. doi: 10.29399/npa.28089. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hidayet Ece Arat Çelik^{1

2}, Deniz Ceylan³, Başak Bağcı⁴, Berna Binnur Akdede⁵, Köksal Alptekin⁵, Ayşegül Özerdem⁶

Affiliations

¹ Maltepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, İstanbul, Turkey.
² Dokuz Eylül University, Institutes of Health Sciences, Department of Neuroscience, İzmir, Turkey.
³ Koç University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, İstanbul, Turkey.
⁴ Katip Çelebi University, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, İzmir, Turkey.
⁵ Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, İzmir, Turkey.
⁶ Mayo Clinic, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Rochester, MN, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is a concept defined as a subjective perception of one's position in life and is negatively affected in many psychiatric illnesses such as bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). It is hypothesized that therapeutic approaches based on QoL can increase the patient's adherence to treatment and contribute to a satisfactory life. This study aimed to compare the QoL of individuals having BD and schizophrenia with that of healthy controls (HCs) and to investigate the impact of the state of remission on QoL.

Method: The World Health Organization QoL Scale-Short Form (WHOQOL-Bref) was administered to individuals with BD (n=124) and SCZ (n=74) and to HCs (n=81) to evaluate QoL. The WHOQOL-Bref subscale and total scores were compared between the groups using multifactor analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) by considering age and education level as the covariates. Then, the patient groups were compared using MANCOVA based on the state of remission by taking age, level of education, and Global Assessment of Functioning scores as the covariates. The relationship between clinical features and QoL scores was evaluated using correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis was applied for the variables that were found to be significant.

Results: It was found that individuals with SCZ or BD had lower WHOQOL-Bref psychological, social, and total scores than HCs. Those with SCZ additionally had lower physical and environmental subscale scores than HCs. Furthermore, those with SCZ had lower WHOQOL-Bref physical, psychological, social, and total scores than individuals with BD. There was no significant difference in WHOQOL-Bref scores between individuals with BD and SCZ in the remission period. WHOQOL-Bref physical, psychological, and total scores were found to be significantly lower in unremitted BD patients when compared with remitted BD patients. Unremitted BD patients were found to have significantly lower WHOQOL-Bref psychological, environmental, and total scale scores than unremitted SCZ patients.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the QoL of individuals with BD is between that of healthy individuals and those with SCZ. However, unremitted BD patients have lower QoL than unremitted SCZ patients. Both patient groups display similar features during remission. Identifying the similarities and differences in terms of QoL in both patient groups is of great importance to develop the best type of treatment for the patients.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder; quality of life; schizophrenia.