Quality of life and its correlates in patients with dual diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder and substance dependence.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the quality of life (QOL) of patients having dual diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder and substance dependence with those having either diagnosis alone and with healthy controls.


METHODS
Cross-sectional assessment of the four groups of subjects was made. Euthymic bipolar patients and those substance dependent patients not in active withdrawal or intoxication were included. QOL assessment was made with the World Health Organization (WHO)-QOL--Bref Hindi version.


RESULTS
Total QOL score and scores on all the four domains of WHO-QOL-Bref were significantly lower for the dual-diagnosis (DD) patients when compared with all the other groups. Significant negative correlations were found between (i) the number of days the drug was consumed and the score on the 'general well-being' items of WHO-QOL-Bref (r = -0.31, p < 0.05); and (ii) between severity of alcohol dependence and WHO-QOL total score (r = -0.44, p < 0.01) as well as its 'psychological' domain (r = -0.52, p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The study indicates that bipolar DD patients experience a lower QOL when compared with the other groups studied. Their QOL is affected by the severity of alcohol dependence.
Singh
Jaspreet
J
Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Mattoo
Surendra K
SK
Sharan
Pratap
P
Basu
Debasish
D
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*