The impact of side-effects of antipsychotic agents on life satisfaction of schizophrenia patients: a naturalistic study

Abstract

This study compared the impact of side-effects of antipsychotic treatment, clinical and psychosocial factors on the subjective quality of life (QOL) of hospitalized patients. We surveyed 161 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia stabilized on conventional and atypical antipsychotic drugs using standardized measures of adverse events, psychopathology, psychosocial variables, and perceived QOL. We found that patients with adverse events reported less satisfaction with life domains of subjective feelings and general activities than asymptomatic patients. Patients treated with conventional and novel antipsychotic agents had comparable QOL ratings. Multiple regression analysis showed total variance in QOL ratings as follows: psychosocial factors, 20.9%; clinical symptoms and associated distress, 10.1%; adverse effects, 3.2%. Thus, medication side-effects influence subjective quality of life of schizophrenia inpatients significantly less than other clinical and psychosocial factors. Patient's subjective response to these events rather than their number is more predictive of QOL.