title: Quality of life of Chinese schizophrenia outpatients in Hong Kong: relationship to sociodemographic factors and symptomatology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationships between sociodemographic and clinical factors and quality of life (QOL) in a cohort of Chinese schizophrenia outpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred subjects with a diagnosis of DSM-IV schizophrenia aged 18-60 years were randomly selected, and their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics including psychotic and depressive symptoms, extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), and quality of life were assessed. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationships of sociodemographic, clinical data and QOL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to normative data obtained for the general population in Hong Kong, significantly lower scores in physical, psychological, and social QOL domains were found in the patient group. History of suicidal attempts and the presence of positive, negative, depressive, anxiety and EPS symptoms were all significantly correlated with QOL in schizophrenia patients. After controlling for the effects of variables that were significantly correlated with QOL in the correlation analysis, however, only depressive symptoms were still significantly correlated with each QOL domain. Multiple regression analysis showed that depressive symptoms predicted all QOL domains, while positive symptoms predicted overall and physical QOL domains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chinese outpatients with schizophrenia had poorer QOL than the general population. In this patient population, QOL was more strongly related to the severity of depressive symptoms and was independent of sociodemographic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Shatin Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong. xyutly@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Yu-Tao
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Yong-Zhen
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Chi-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Wai-Kwong
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Gabor S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Ungvari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D003415:Crime / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents