PANSS Syndromes and Quality of Life in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Background: Results from factor analysis studies have suggested that a five-dimensional structure appears to be a better representation of the psychopathological data of the PANSS. The purpose of this study was the detailed investigation of the association of schizophrenia syndromes and single symptoms with quality of life (QOL) in acute and remitted patients. The leading hypotheses were: (1) affective symptoms, especially depression and anxiety, are mostly associated with QOL longitudinally and (2) in the acute phase, QOL is also associated with positive schizophrenia symptoms. Methods: For the present study, schizophrenia and schizophreniform patients were studied on admission, at the end of the acute phase and 6 months after hospitalization. Psychopathology was measured using the PANSS syndromes, QOL was assessed using disease-specific (SWN) and generic (MLDL, EDLQ) scales. Results: Eighty-four patients entered the study and were assessed during the acute phase taking into account their history and actual treatment. Results revealed anxiety as the most important symptom and depression as the most important syndrome associated with different areas of QOL during and after hospitalization. Also cognitive and negative symptoms were associated with different QOL domains, but both positive symptom clusters showed no substantial association with QOL. Conclusions: Results of this longitudinal study investigating psychopathology and QOL in schizophrenia provide further support for the need to consider the psychopathological state and treatment setting when measuring QOL in schizophrenia and the need for a differential analysis of schizophrenia symptoms and QOL in the acute, mid-term and long-term phase. Anxiety reduction should be a critical goal of treatment in order to prevent further QOL impairment.

Personality Dimensions in Schizophrenia: Associations with Symptoms and Coping Concurrently and 12 Months Later

“…We also reason that persons who are less agreeable may drive others away, leaving fewer enduring social supports to call on when under stress and possibly therefore heightening vulnerability to positive symptoms. These possibilities are consistent with literature that suggests that many with schizophrenia, while it is not obvious to others, react in deeply emotional and negative ways to life events [41] , that such reactivity may be linked to exacerbation or positive and emotional discomfort symptoms [42] , and that affective distress is linked longitudinally with quality of life [43] .…”

Determinants of objective and subjective quality of life in first-time-admission schizophrenic patients in Poland: a longitudinal study

“…Among many factors affecting objective QoL, the importance of psychopathological symptoms, especially negative and general psychopathology [5][6][7][8][9][10][11], duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) [12,13], premorbid social adjustment [6,[14][15][16], social support [17,18] and demographic variables (age, gender) [19][20][21] have been emphasised. The subjective QoL of schizophrenic patients is described as associated with depression, anxiety, negative, and-rarely-positive symptoms [10,[22][23][24][25]. Other studies have related to the role of social support [17,26], DUP [27] and stress-related factors [28].…”

Bakımevinde kalan şizofreni hastalarında yaşam kalitesi ve depresyon

“…Studies with schizophrenia patients report a negative correlation between psychopathology levels and quality of life. Some studies show a negative effect on quality of life only for negative symptoms, others for negative and positive symptoms alike (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40).…”