Quality of life and clinical characteristics in a nonselected sample of patients with schizophrenia

Background:Patients with schizophrenia experience low quality of life (QOL).Aims:To examine QOL in these patients and the relation between QOL and illness duration, adjusted daily doses (ADDs) of antipsychotics, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and smoking.Methods:In this naturalistic, cross-sectional study, 82 patients were interviewed about smoking habits. Patients completed a QOL questionnaire (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref) consisting of physical, psychological, social and environmental domains and had height, weight and waist circumference measured. The characteristics and QOL were correlated using multiple regression analysis.Results:QOL was significantly lower in the patients than in the general population (p < .01). In first-ever diagnosed patients, QOL was associated with BMI (regression coefficient (RC): physical −0.73, psychological −1.44 and environmental −0.55; all p < .05), ADD (RC: physical 3.71, psychological 4.37 and environmental 2.94; all p < .10) and smoking ...