Results from the schizophrenia outpatient health outcomes (SOHO) study: Quality of life and subjective well-being under neuroleptic treatment from the German sample

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe first data -at baseline and at 3 monthson quality of life and subjective well-being under neuroleptic treatment for various patient groups (German sample) that were documented in the Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (SOHO) Study METHODS: Data collection comprised variables related to quality of life (QoL; single items) and the SWN scale (short version) to reflect subjective well-being under neuroleptic treatment (this scale was used in Germany exclusively). Statistical analyses were exploratory and descriptive, sample sizes will vary because of missing values. SOHO is a 3-year, prospective, outpatient, Pan European, observational study of health outcomes associated with antipsychotic treatment. Patients were enrolled in SOHO upon initiation of or change to a new antipsychotic in actual outpatient treatment settings RESULTS: The total number of patients enrolled in Gemlany was 3499. Three month data has been collected on 2685 patients. After the first three months, 80% (amisulpride, N= 181), 89% (quetiapine, N=201), 90% (risperidone, N=34t), 93% (olanzapine, N=1440) and 96% (clozapine, N=74) of patients were still receiving the antipsychotic compound that had been initiated at baseline. There were cleax reductions in the percentage of patients with no social interaction (last 4 weeks) at 3 months compare to baseline in all cohorts except 'oral typicals' (17.0% to 17.6%). improvements were most pronounced in the olanzapine cohort (30.1% to 14.7%, N=1372) and the '2 or more new antipsychotics' cohort (30.6% to 16.1%). On the SWN scale, there were improvements in mean total scores for all cohorts, over the three month period. Changes ranged from, +6.4 ('depot typicals', N=162) to + 11.7 (olanzapine, N=1360) and +15.0 ( '2 or more new antipsychotics', N=61). Corresponding changes were observed for the different sub scores. CONCLUSIONS: The SOHO study collects data on various outcome parameters in a naturalistic setting. With regard to certain aspects of QoL and 'subjective well-being under neuroleptics' improvements could be observed 3 months after initiation, change or addition of antipsychotic medication. Improvements on the SWN scale for the olanzapine cohort were of the same order of magnitude as in a controlled clinical trial. Further valuable naturalistic data will be generated in this ongoing study following the patient cohorts up to 36 months.