Negative Symptom Severity Determined by SANS is Associated with Poor Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia
Poster C4, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Arthur Su1, Tithi D. Baul2, Christina P.C. Borba1,2, David C. Henderson1,2; 1Boston University School of Medicine, 2Boston Medical Center
Quality of life (QOL) measurement has become an established component of mental health outcome assessment, and there is growing interest in QOL in studies of treatment response of schizophrenia. However, the influence of sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment factors on QOL has yet to be fully defined. Research into these factors can serve to guide clinical management and lead to better overall outcomes. We sought to determine whether QOL had associations with severity of symptoms and lifestyle/metabolic profiles in patients with schizophrenia. The participants were 42 individuals with schizophrenia with symptom severity assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). We administered the clinician-observed Quality of Life Scale (QLS) and collected metabolic markers of interest (e.g. BMI, fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1C, lipids, anthropometric measurements). We performed Spearman's rank-order correlations among QLS, PANSS, SANS, and metabolic variables. We found strong significant negative correlation between QLS and SANS (r= -0.8132; p< 0.001). Multiple linear regression modeling showed significant association between QLS and SANS (t= -9.01; p< 0.0001) after controlling for sociodemographic and metabolic factors. The SANS score accounted for 63% of variance, and one point increase in SANS resulted in a clear decrease in QLS (βest= -0.937). Our results demonstrate that negative symptom severity is a strong indicator of QOL when controlling for metabolic variables. Further research and stratification of symptoms or metabolic markers is warranted and can help elucidate clinical or preventative approaches for managing schizophrenia.
Topic Area: Psychosis NOS