Health-Related Quality of Life in Male Patients under Treatment for Substance Use Disorders with and without Major Depressive Disorder: Influence in Clinical Course at One-Year Follow-Up.

Julia E Marquez-Arrico,Ana Adan,José Francisco Navarro

doi:10.3390/jcm9103110

Julia E Marquez-Arrico, Ana Adan + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103110

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Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment has interest as an indicator of degree of affectation and prognosis in mental disorders. HRQoL is impaired in both Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), two conditions highly prevalent, although less studied when both are coexisting (SUD + MDD). Hence, we decided to explore HRQoL with the SF-36 survey in a sample of 123 SUD and 114 SUD + MDD patients (51 symptomatic and 63 asymptomatic of depressive symptoms) under treatment. We performed analyses to examine HRQoL among groups, and its predictive value at 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups through regression models. Patients with SUD + MDD had worse HRQoL than SUD patients and population norms. For Mental Health, Vitality, and General Health dimensions, lower scores were observed for SUD + MDD regardless the presence/absence of depressive symptoms. For Physical Functioning and Health Change, depressive symptomatology and not the comorbidity of SUD + MDD diagnoses explained HRQoL limitations. At 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups we observed two predictors of relapses, General Health for asymptomatic SUD + MDD, and Physical Functioning for SUD. Improving HRQoL in SUD + MDD may be targeted during patient’s treatment; future studies should explore the influence of HRQoL on patient’s prognosis taking into account the presence/absence of depressive symptomatology.

Highlights

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is one of the constructs with more interest in recent years as an indicator of treatment results in patients with different mental disorders
The participants in our sample had a mean age of 39.35 years (SD = 8.69), with patients with substance use disorder (SUD) + Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) being older than patients with SUD (p < 0.001)
The analysis of the differences among the groups considering the presence/absence of depressive symptoms in the SUD + MDD group, indicated that the lowest scores in the Physical Functioning and Health Change dimensions observed in the SUD + MDD group were explained by those symptomatic patients (p < 0.001 in all cases), since the scores of the asymptomatic SUD + MDD patients did not differ from those of the SUD group

Summary

Introduction

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is one of the constructs with more interest in recent years as an indicator of treatment results in patients with different mental disorders These include substance use disorder (SUD), severe mental disorders, and comorbidity among them, known as dual disorders [1,2,3]. The HRQoL is a multidimensional construct of special relevance since it reports the effects that the disorder has on the patient’s daily functioning, the degree of involvement generated by the disorder, and the subjective perception of the limitations that they experience in their daily life [12,13] In this way, the HRQoL study provides important guidance for establishing treatment goals and knowing the degree of functional recovery of the patient beyond the reduction of symptoms, which is always a goal for therapeutic intervention [3,14]

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