Vol 9, No 2 - Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Neurodegenerative Disease
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uality of life is defined by the World Health Organization1 as “Individuals’ perceptions of their posi- tion in life in the context of the culture and value sys- tems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns.” In the last two decades, there has been increasing interest in quality of life in schizophrenic patients, since schizophrenia is a severe, disabling, lifelong disorder, associated with severe social and occupational dysfunction. Furthermore, the development of atypical antipsychotics with broader effi- cacy and lower incidence of extrapyramidal side effects than typical neuroleptics has promoted greater interest from the patient’s perspective.2 Measurement of quality of life in schizophrenic patients Quality of life measurement is based on the principle of applying  medical  care  and  interventions, taking  into account patients’ right of autonomy, which necessarily includes their opinion both during diagnostic evaluation and while formulating their care plan.3 However, there are still doubts as to whether patients with schizophre- nia are capable of self-assessment of their quality of life, because of their cognitive deficits and lack of insight into their illness.4 Lehman et al5 have demonstrated conver- gent validity in the perception of quality of life between patients and clinicians, but they have also recommended F r e e  p a p e r Q Copyright © 2007 LLS SAS.  All rights reserved www.dialogues-cns.org Quality of life in schizophrenic patients Julio Bobes, MD; Maria Paz Garcia-Portilla, MD; Maria Teresa Bascaran, MD, Pilar Alejandra Saiz, MD; Manuel Bousoño, MD Keywords: quality of life; schizophrenia; antipsychotic; side effect Author  affiliations: Department  of  Psychiatry,  University  of  Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain Address for correspondence: Julio Bobes, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oviedo, Julian Claveria, 6, 33006 Oviedo, Spain (e-mail: bobes@uniovi.es) In the last decades, there has been increased interest in the field of quality of life in mental disorders in general, and  particularly  in  schizophrenia.  In  addition,  the appearance of the atypical antipsychotic drugs (amisul- pride, aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone) with different therapeutic and side-effect profiles, has promoted a greater interest in assessing the quality of life of schizophrenic patients. In this paper we will briefly summarize the difficulties in assessing quality of life in schizophrenic patients, as well as the results concerning their quality of life and the influ- ence of psychopathology, especially negative and depres- sive symptoms, on it. We will also review data from recent clinical trials showing the impact of antipsychotic treat- ments and their side effects upon quality of life. © 2007, LLS SAS Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2007;9:215-226.