Predicting 10‐year quality‐of‐life outcomes of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders

AIMS: This study aimed to determine predictors for 10-year good versus poor perceived general quality of life (QOL) outcomes from baseline variables in people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. METHODS: We compared patients with poor versus good 10-year QOL outcomes using baseline clinical, personality-related variables, demographic and background characteristics. Logistic regression analysis was used for predicting the 10-year QOL outcomes from baseline data. One-hundred-eight patients completed the Quality-of-Life Enjoyment and Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS), the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory, and psychosocial questionnaires at baseline and 10 years later. RESULTS: Logistic regression revealed six predictors of QOL outcomes: paranoid ideations (odds ratio [OR] 3.1), PANSS general psychopathology (OR 1.1), obsessiveness (OR 0.84), hostility (OR 0.4), PANSS positive scale scores (OR 0.4), and general QOL index (OR 0.4). This model classified 80.6% of the sample with good sensitivity (87% correctly identified 'poor outcome'), and specificity (71% correctly identified 'good outcome'). CONCLUSION: This study provides a pattern of baseline predictors for long-term QOL outcomes. Identified predictors are factors that can potentially be ameliorated, and thereby enhance the QOL of people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.