Health-related quality of life in recurrent major depressive disorder—A 10-year follow-up study

Abstract

Årdal G, Lund A, Hammar Å. Health-related quality of life in recurrent major depressive disorder—A 10-year follow-up study. Nord J Psychiatry 2012;Early online:1–5. Background: Major depressive disorder strongly affects health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Few studies have followed patients suffering recurrent major depressive disorder (rMDD) and paid attention to HRQOL in remitted state. Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess HRQOL in a 10-year longitudinal perspective in patients suffering rMDD, and comparable healthy control subjects. Results: The results show significant lowered HRQOL in depressed patients on all measured domains in the acute phase of illness. Conclusions: Although HRQOL in the depressed patient group significantly improved on most measures between the two assessments, the patient group still reported a significant lowered HRQOL compared with matched controls at the 10-year follow-up assessment. More research should focus on HRQOL after a depressive episode.