Symptom dimensions and the different impairments of quality of life in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Objective To investigate the difference of quality of life in patients with different symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD). Methods Collected 54 cases of outpatient and the first inpatient with OCD to be the research group and 54 normal persons were the control group. The quality of life was assessed with SF-36, and compared the scores. An analysis was performed on the major categories of the YBOCS-SC to derive symptom dimension scores. Results Compared to the control group, patients with OCD showed significant impairment in seven domains of quality of life, especially in the mental health(t=12.474, P<0.01), the role-emotional(t=9.407, P<0.01), the social functioning(t=8.862, P<0.01) and the vitality(t=8.057, P<0.01). The patients with distinct symptom dimensions of ①symmetry/order, contribution rate 21.60%; ②contaminate/clean, contribution rate 16.37%; ③aggression/religion, contribution rate 12.34%; ④sex/check, contribution rate 10.90%.They showed different severity of the impairments in four domains of quality of life, the role-physical(F=5.199, P=0.004), the bodily pain(F=3.169, P=0.034), the role-emotional(F=9.350, P=0.000), the mental health(F=4.854, P=0.005). The differences mainly found between the ①②③group and the ④group by LSD multiple testing. Conclusion The mental health is severely damaged with OCD patients. There is stability with the structure of the symptom dimensions of OCD. And it maybe showed the heterogeneity of the symptoms for the significant difference of impairments of quality of life in patients with OCD. Key words: Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Symptom dimension; Quality of life