Transcultural comparison of quality of life in somatoform pain patients

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) has become an important outcome criterion in psychiatry. The present study was designed to identify and compare the QoL in somatoform pain patients from Austria and migrants from the former Yugoslavia as diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria. Method: This study examined 100 consecutive patients of Austrian ethnic origin, as well as 100 consecutive patients from the former Yugoslavia. All patients fulfilled the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for somatoform pain disorder as ascertained by SCID-I. The patients were administered the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, assessing QoL, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), measuring depressive symptomatology. Patients were assessed according to their background either in German or in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language. Results: Patients from the former Yugoslavia showed a significantly lower score of overall QoL (A: 34; ex-Yu: 29; p = 0.014). In addition to that, all of their WHOQOL-BREF domain scores were lower, as compared to the Austrian patient group: psychological health (A: 57; ex-Yu: 36; p < 0.001), physical health (A: 50; ex-Yu: 31; p < 0.001), social relations (A: 60; ex-Yu: 42; p < 0,001), and environment (A: 66; ex-Yu: 52; p < 0.001). Depressive symptomatology, as measured on the BDI, also showed a significant gap between these two groups (A: 17.9; ex-Yu: 31.3; p < 0.001). Even when subtracting the impact of depressive symptomatology from the QoL scores, the differences still remain significant as overall QoL (p = 0.048), physical health (p = 0,008), and psychological health (p = 0.02) are concerned. Discussion: The results of this study show clear quality-of-life differences between somatoform pain patients from Austria and the former Yugoslavia. In addition to that, the two groups also reported significant differences with regard to psychopathological factors (depressive symptomatology) which have in turn a major impact on QoL.