title: Quality of life in unipolar and bipolar depression: are there significant differences?
abstract: In the present investigation, we compared the impact of illness on quality of life (QOL) in adult outpatients with unipolar (N = 89) and bipolar (N = 25) depression. While attending a university hospital in southern Brazil, patients completed the WHO's QOL Instrument-Short Version and the Beck Depression Inventory. After analyses, patients with bipolar depression reported significantly lower scores on the psychological QOL domain (p = .013) than patients with unipolar depression. There were no significant differences between the study groups in terms of social and demographic variables, in the other QOL domains assessed (i.e., physical health, social relationships, and environmental), and in the severity of depressive symptoms. In conclusion, our findings suggest that patients with bipolar and unipolar depressions have different QOL profiles, and that this difference is probably independent of the severity of the mood disturbance and might be related to the higher rates of suicide observed in the bipolar population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and the Mood Disorders Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (PROTHUM-HCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Berlim
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pargendler
authors.forename: Marco A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Caldieraro
authors.forename: Ellen A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Marcelo P A
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Joiner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires