Quality of life and disability in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Published in: European psychiatry Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 239 - 245
• Main Authors: Bobes, J, González, M.P, Bascarán, M.T, Arango, C, Sáiz, P.A, Bousoño, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Elsevier SAS 01.06.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; disability; Disability Evaluation; Female; Heroin Dependence - diagnosis; Heroin Dependence - psychology; Humans; Kidney Transplantation - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; obsessive-compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Reference Values; Renal Dialysis - psychology; Schizophrenia - diagnosis; Schizophrenic Psychology; SF-36; Spain; Europe; Spain; quality of life; disability; obsessive-compulsive disorder; SF-36; Social environment; Human; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Disease; Anxiety disorder; Mental health; Social adjustment; Well being; Quality of life; Symptomatology; Sociodemographic factor; Mental disorder; Severity score; Typology; Comparative study; Public health; Somatic disease
• ISSN: 0924-9338; 1778-3585
• DOI: 10.1016/S0924-9338(01)00571-5

The aim of this study is to describe the situation of Spanish obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients and compare it to that of the general population and other patient groups. Methods. Thirty-six OCD patients on maintenance treatment were evaluated using the Y-BOCS, SF-36, and DAS-S. Their SF-36 scores were compared to Spanish norms and to those obtained from U.S. OCD patients, schizophrenic outpatients, depressed outpatients, heroin dependents, patients on hemodialysis, and kidney transplant recipients. Results. Sixty-one percent of the patients had severe or extremely severe symptoms. Their quality of life was worse when compared with the Spanish norms in all SF-36 areas, but especially with respect to mental health. In contrast to U.S. OCD patients, social functioning is more impaired in the Spanish OCD patients. OCD patients reported the same quality of life as schizophrenics in the areas of mental health, but better in the areas of physical health. Compared with heroin dependents and depressed patients, their quality of life was worse. On mental health scales, OCD patients scored worse than somatic patients. Conclusions. OCD in the Spanish population was shown to be associated with worse quality of life than for any other patient group (including physical groups), except schizophrenics.