Research article

Schizophrenia and quality of life: a one-year follow-up in four EU countries

Viviane Kovess-Masféty¹ , Miguel Xavier² , Berta Moreno Kustner³ , Agnieszka Suchocka¹ , Christine Sevilla-Dedieu¹ , Jacques Dubuis⁴ , Elisabeth Lacalmontie⁵ , Jacques Pellet⁶ , Jean-Luc Roelandt⁷ and Dermot Walsh⁸

¹  MGEN Foundation for Public Health, EA 4069 University of Paris 5, 3, square Max Hymans, 75748 Paris Cedex 15, France

²  Clinica Universitaria de Psiquiatria e Saude Mental, Faculdade de Ciências Medicas, calçada da Tapada, 155, 1300 Lisboa, Portugal

³  Departamento de Psiquiatria, Facultad de Medicina, avenida de Madrid, s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain

⁴  CHS Le Vinatier; 95, boulevard Pinel, 69677 Bron Cedex, France

⁵  CHS La Verrière, 78321 Le Mesnil St Denis, France

⁶  Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie Adultes, CHU St Etienne, 42055 Saint Etienne Cedex 02, France

⁷  Clinique Jérôme Bosch, 104, rue du Général Leclerc, BP 10, 59487 Armentières Cedex, France

⁸  Health Research Board, Holbrook House, Holles Street, Dublin 2, Ireland

author email corresponding author email

BMC Psychiatry 2006, 6:39doi:10.1186/1471-244X-6-39

Published:	19 September 2006

Abstract

Background

This article systematically monitors the quality of life (QOL) of patients with schizophrenia from seven different sites across four European countries: France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Methods

A one-year prospective cohort study was carried out. Inclusion criteria for patients were: a clinical lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 (F20) diagnostic criteria for research, age between 18 and 65 years and at least one contact with mental health services in 1993. Data concerning QOL were recorded in seven sites from four countries: France, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, and were obtained using the Baker and Intagliata scale. At baseline, 339 patients answered the QOL questionnaire. At one-year follow-up, Spain could not participate, so only 263 patients were contacted and 219 agreed to take part. QOL was compared across centres by areas and according to a global index. QOL was correlated with presence of clinical and social problems, needs for care and interventions provided during the one-year follow-up.

Results

We did not find any link between gender and QOL. There were some significant differences between centres concerning many items. What is more, these differences were relative: in Lisbon where the lowest level of satisfaction was recorded, people were satisfied with food but highly dissatisfied with finances, whereas in St Etienne, where the highest level of satisfaction was recorded, people were less satisfied with food when they were more satisfied with finances. The evolution in one year among those respondents who took part in the follow-up (excluding the subjects from Granada) showed different patterns depending on the items.

Conclusion

The four countries have different resources and patients live in rather different conditions. However, the main differences as far as their QOL is concerned very much depend on extra-psychiatric variables, principally marital status and income.