Health-related quality of well-being in chronically hospitalized patients with schizophrenia: comparison with matched outpatients

Quantifying (lie functional consequences of illness in terms of quality of life can enhance our understanding of both mental and physical disorders. H owever, little is known about the quality of life among older inpatients vs . outpatients with schizophrenia. We present the results of health-related quality of life assessments in 54 middle-aged and elderly long-term inpatie nts with schizophrenia and a demographically matched outpatient sample. Ass essments were performed using the Quality of Well-Being (QWB) scale, along with standard measures of psychopathology and global cognitive impairment. Compared with outpatients, the inpatients had a significantly lower health- related quality of life, as measured by the QWB. In the inpatient and outpa tient groups, higher levels of positive symptoms were associated with lower health-related quality of life. Health-related quality of life remained fa irly stable among the inpatients who remained hospitalized over 6 months. I n both inpatients and outpatients, baseline cognitive status and psychopath ology predicted QWB scores at the 6-month follow-up. These findings further support the use of the QWB in severely mentally ill populations; implicati ons for improving health-related quality of life among older patients with schizophrenia are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rig hts reserved.