Quality of Life in a Group of Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Some of their Clinical Characteristics

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the quality of life in a group of patients with bipolar disorder at admission, discharge and six month after hospitalization in Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

In a cohort study, one hundred and twenty hospitalized patients with bipolar disorder type I or mixed episode, aged between 18 and 65 years, were included in a consecutive manner from May, 2005 to September, 2006. Data were collected using World Health Organization-Quality of Life-Bref scale (WHO-QoL-BREF), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-17)HAM-D-17), Positive And Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) at admission, discharge and six months after hospitalization.

Quality of life was not significantly different between the time of admission and six months after hospitalization. The most significant finding was the reverse relationship between depressive symptoms and quality of life at admission (p<0.001), discharge (p<0.001), and after six months follow-up (p=0.001). General psychotic symptoms also showed a reverse relationship at admission (p<0.001), discharge (p<0.01), and six months after hospitalization (p<0.001). Negative psychotic symptoms showed a significant reverse relationship with quality of life at admission (p<0.005) and discharge (p<0.05).

Quality of life shows no significant improvement six months after hospitalization.