title: Quality of life for patients with body dysmorphic disorder.
abstract: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a relatively common, distressing, and impairing disorder. Quality of life in BDD, however, has not been investigated. In this study, 62 consecutive outpatients with BDD were evaluated with the self-report Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and other scales. SF-36 scores were descriptively compared to published norms for several populations. Physical health-related quality of life scores were generally worse than general U.S. population norms and better than norms for outpatients with a medical illness or depression. However, in all mental health domains, BDD subjects' scores were notably worse than norms for the general U.S. population and for patients with depression, diabetes, or a recent myocardial infarction. More severe BDD symptoms and greater delusionality were associated with poorer mental health-related quality of life. These results indicate that patients with BDD have notably poor mental health status and mental health-related quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Butler Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, USA.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States