CLINICAL CORRELATES OF SUBJECTIVE QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADULT PATIENTS WITH EARLY PSYCHOSIS IN HONG KONG

Abstract Background Subjective quality of life (SQoL) is an important outcome domain in patients with early psychosis. In an attempt to better understand and maximize SQoL of early psychosis patients, an increasing number of research has been conducted to investigate factors associated with SQoL. Nonetheless, most previous studies focused on younger patients with early psychosis. In this study, the correlates of SQoL in adult patients who had completed 3-year specialized early intervention service for first-episode psychosis (FEP) in Hong Kong were investigated. Methods In total, one hundred and one Chinese patients aged 26–55 years who completed 3-year specialized early intervention service for psychosis in Hong Kong were recruited. Assessments on illness onset (DUP), clinical (PANSS, BNSS, SUMD), intrinsic motivation (by items in Quality of Life Scale, QLS), functional (SOFAS), antipsychotic-induced parkinsonism features (Simpson-Angus Scale, SAS) were conducted. SQoL was evaluated by Chinese version SF-12 which consist of physical and mental components for analysis. Results Correlation analyses showed that SF12 physical health score was correlated with PANSS depression component (p<0.001), QLS intrinsic motivation score (p=0.001) and SAS score (p<0.05) while SF12 mental health score was correlated with PANSS depression score (p<0.001), QLS intrinsic motivation score (p<0.05) and SAS score (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses further revealed that lower PANSS depression score (p<0.001) and higher intrinsic motivation (measured by QLS, p<0.05) were independently associated with better physical SQoL, while lower PANSS depression score (p<0.001) and lower SAS side-effect score (p<0.05) were independently related to better mental SQoL. Discussion Our results are consistent with the literature which indicates that SQoL is significantly related to depressive symptoms. In addition, patients with higher intrinsic motivation and less antipsychotic-induced extrapyramidal side-effect have better SQoL. Further analysis on the longitudinal data will clarify variables predictive of SQoL at follow-up.