title: Well-being in clozapine-treated schizophrenia patients: The significance of positive symptoms.
abstract: Well-being perception is seldom explored in schizophrenia patients. Recurrent limitations, such as the questionable applicability of gold standard definitions of health and well-being, and fewer tools available to assess well-being, are pronounced in this subpopulation. This cross-sectional study sought to explore potential clinical factors that may predict subjective well-being scores in chronic schizophrenia patients (N=142) receiving clozapine treatment.
  
  
  
  The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) was used to measure well-being. We correlated SWEMWBS scores and 27 clinically recognized factors, spanning socio-demographics, symptom severity scores, physical health diagnosis, clozapine side effects, habits and prescribed medication. Factors with a p<0.2 correlation were included as a predictors in a linear regression model.
  
  
  
  Ten factors were included in the linear regression model, however only positive symptom severity was a significant predictor of SWEMWBS score (p<0.0001).
  
  
  
  We suggest that greater levels of clinical attention given to positive symptoms compared with other symptoms and aspects of well-being, during biomedical treatment for chronic schizophrenia, may partially explain the finding that only positive symptoms significantly predicted patient perceptions of low well-being.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, AD Hope Building, Australian National University, Canberra, 2612, Australia. Electronic address: Julia.brown@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Julia E H
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Barcelona Clinic Schizophrenia Unit (BCSU), C/Mallorca 187,08036, Institut Clínic de Neurociències (ICN), Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: MEZQUIDA@clinic.ub.es.
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mezquida
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Herchel Smith Building for Brain & Mind Sciences, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, United Kingdom; Clozapine Clinic. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: ef280@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Egea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003024:Clozapine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003024:Clozapine