Quality of Life among Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is serious, chronic psychiatric illnesses characterized by alternating episodes of mania or hypomania and depression, or mixtures of manic and depressive features and appears in adolescence or early adulthood. Aim: This study aimed to assess quality of life among patients with bipolar disorder. Design: A descriptive exploratory study design was utilized in this study. Setting: This study was carried out in the outpatient clinic of the Institute of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University. Subjects: A purposive sample of 40 patients with bipolar disorder Data were collected using: 1) Interviewing questionnaire containing the following parts: A) Socio-demographic characteristics. B) Patients' clinical data sheet. C) Patients' level of knowledge regarding bipolar disorder. 2) Quality of life in bipolar disorder (QOL.BD-56) questionnaire. The results: there was highly significant difference as regarding total QOL (P ≤ 0.001). Additionally, there was statistically significant correlation found between adequacy of monthly income and total QOL. Besides, there was no statistically significant correlation found between age, gender, marital status, education level and occupation as regard total QOL. Conclusions: the total level of QOL was negative in all dimensions of QOL toward the patients with bipolar disorder under study. Recommendations: Examination of the role of comorbidities such as anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders on QOL in bipolar disorder, and construction of family interventions designed to support family members' efforts to cope with the intrusion of BD into the household.