Outcome on quality of life in a Canadian national sample of patients with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders

Objective: To examine changes in subjective and objective dimensions of quality of life (QoL) in a large Canadian sample of patients with diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated in academic and non-academic settings over a 2-year period. Method: Patients recruited in the study across the country were assessed for QoL and functioning using the Client and Provider versions of the Wisconsin Quality of Life Questionnaire (WQoL) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) at baseline (n = 448), 1 year (n = 308-353) and 2 years (188-297). Data were analyzed to examine change across time using multivariate analyses controlling for potential influence of variables such as age, regional variation, gender, duration of illness, type of treatment taken and baseline measures of symptoms and QoL. Results: The weighted quality of life index (W-QoL-I) showed a significant change on both the client and the provider versions of the WQoL while the physical and mental composites of the SF-36 showed change only at 2 years. These changes were influenced significantly by baseline scores on W-QoL-I and in the case of provider version of the WQoL by baseline Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores. Regional variation or type of medication had no impact on improvement in QoL. Conclusion: Within a naturalistic sample of schizophrenia patients treated and followed in routine care the overall QoL showed an improvement over time but this improvement was not influenced by the type of medication prescribed.