Abstract
BackgroundSeverity of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia is a determinant of patient’s well-being, but evidence in low- and middle-income countries is limited. We aimed to measure the symptom severity using objective measurements, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale (CGI-S), and their associations with well-being in patients with schizophrenia.MethodsPatients with schizophrenia aged ≥18 years, without active psychosis including no history of hospitalization within the last 6 months, were included. Symptom severity was measured by the clinicians using BPRS and CGI-S. The patients’ well-being was assessed by self-report using the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic treatment scale (SWN) as continuous and binary outcomes (categorized into adequate or poor well-being). Correlations between symptom severity (BPRS and CGI-S scores) and well-being (SWN score) were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation. Association between well-being status and BPRS was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression.ResultsOf 150 patients, BPRS and CGI-S were inversely correlated with SWN score (r = − 0.47; p < 0.001 and − 0.21; p < 0.01, respectively). BPRS Affect domain had the highest correlation with SWN (r = − 0.51, p < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression, BPRS score and being unemployed were associated with poor well-being status (adjusted OR 1.08; 95%CI 1.02–1.14; p = 0.006, and 4.01; 95%CI 1.38–11.7; p = 0.011, respectively).ConclusionInverse relationships between symptom severity and well-being score were found. Higher BPRS Affect domain was significantly associated with lower patients’ well-being. The use of BPRS tool into routine clinical practice could serve as an adjunct to physician’s clinical evaluation of patients’ symptoms and may help improve patient’s well-being. Further research on negative symptoms associated with well-being is required.
Highlights
Severity of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia is a determinant of patient’s well-being, but evidence in low- and middle-income countries is limited
Well-being measurement We evaluated the patient’s well-being, for which we used the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic treatment Scale (SWN)
The medical history and two symptom severity tools: Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI)-S were completed by their attending psychiatrists
Summary
Severity of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia is a determinant of patient’s well-being, but evidence in low- and middle-income countries is limited. We aimed to measure the symptom severity using objective measurements, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale (CGIS), and their associations with well-being in patients with schizophrenia. Physicians generally render their judgments for clinical management. Through the course of illness, they experience heterogeneous impairments including cognition deficit, [3,4,5] poor physical health [6, 7] and functional disabilities [5] They generally suffer from psychiatric comorbidities such as depression and anxiety [8]. This results in a significant negative impact on their subjective well-being and quality of life [9,10,11]
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