Predicting 10-year quality-of-life outcomes of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders.

AIMS: This study aimed to determine predictors for 10-year good versus poor perceived general quality of life (QOL) outcomes from baseline variables in people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

METHODS

We compared patients with poor versus good 10-year QOL outcomes using baseline clinical, personality-related variables, demographic and background characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was used for predicting the 10-year QOL outcomes from baseline data. One-hundred-eight patients completed the Quality-of-Life Enjoyment and Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS), the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory, and psychosocial questionnaires at baseline and 10 years later.

RESULTS

Logistic regression revealed six predictors of QOL outcomes: paranoid ideations (odds ratio [OR] 3.1), PANSS general psychopathology (OR 1.1), obsessiveness (OR 0.84), hostility (OR 0.4), PANSS positive scale scores (OR 0.4), and general QOL index (OR 0.4). This model classified 80.6% of the sample with good sensitivity (87% correctly identified 'poor outcome'), and specificity (71% correctly identified 'good outcome').

CONCLUSION

This study provides a pattern of baseline predictors for long-term QOL outcomes. Identified predictors are factors that can potentially be ameliorated, and thereby enhance the QOL of people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.