SHBC1335

J.H.LAU¹, E.ABDIN¹, V.A.L.SEET¹, S.C.TAN¹, M.SUBRAMANIAM¹

Institute of Mental Health¹

Patients with schizophrenia experience a wide range of symptoms and impairments that affect their quality of life. The present study aimed to examine how symptom severity and cognitive impairments were associated with Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in outpatients with Schizophrenia.

188 outpatients with schizophrenia were recruited. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was utilized to measure severity of positive, negative and general psychopathology symptoms, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment assessed cognitive functioning. HRQoL was measured via the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ5D-5L) utility index, visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) and its five subscales (Mobility, Self-care, Usual Activities, Pain/Discomfort, and Anxiety/Depression). To identify whether respondents endorsed having issues with the five dimensions of the EQ5D-5L, participants’ response on each item were dichotomized. Logistic and linear regression analyses adjusting for the effect of sociodemographic variables were conducted.

Higher severity of general psychopathology symptoms was associated with poorer scores on the EQ5D-5L index, EQ-VAS), and increased likelihood of endorsing problems with all five dimensions of the EQ5D-5L. Positive symptom severity was positively associated with only the EQ5D-5L index. Higher severity of negative symptoms was correlated with higher scores on the utility index, and lower likelihood of endorsing anxiety/depression. Severe cognitive impairment was only associated with higher likelihood of endorsing anxiety/depression.

These findings highlight that symptom seventy and cognitive functioning are important factors that clinicians can focus on to ameliorate HRQoL of outpatients with schizophrenia. Emphasis should be placed on general psychopathology, and the relationship between negative symptoms, cognitive impairment and anxiety/depression should be further examined.