Aucune donnée n’est rapportée dans la littérature explorant les liens entre des mesures de qualité de vie reposant sur un questionnaire spécifique développé à partir du point de vue de souffrant de schizophrénie et une évaluation multidimentionnelle de la conscience de leur maladie. L’objectif de ce travail est d’étudier l’influence de la conscience du trouble mental sur la qualité de vie subjective des patients souffrant de troubles schizophréniques.

Il s’agit d’une étude transversale réalisée au sein d’un service de psychiatrie d’un centre hospitalo-universitaire (Marseille, France). Les patients présentant un diagnostic de schizophrénie ou de trouble schizoaffectif (DSM IV-R) étaient éligibles. Pour chaque sujet, ont été recueillies des données sociodémographiques, des caractéristiques de la maladie (prise en charge, forme et sévérité clinique), le niveau d’insight (SUMD), la qualité de vie (S-QoL).

La population d’étude comportait 153sujets : moyenne d’âge 37,6 ans (ET 11,2), 63 % d’hommes. Les sujets ayant un niveau de conscience préservé rapportent en général des niveaux de qualité de vie inférieurs. Après ajustement sur les variables sociodémographiques et cliniques, seule la dimension « conscience de la maladie » est significativement prédictive du score global de qualité de vie. Cette étude a permis de préciser la nature des liens entre les niveaux de conscience de la maladie et la qualité de vie du patient.

Shizophrenia is a long-lasting condition with either episodic or continuous evolution that can result in physical, psychological, and social problems related to both the disease itself and the potential side-effects of treatments. These various aspects should be taken into account when assessing the outcome of medical management of patients suffering from schizophrenia. Subjective criteria, such as quality of life (QoL) measurements, should be considered an important focus for evaluation in this population. A major subgroup of patients with schizophrenia lacks insight of having a mental disorder or symptoms of a mental disorder. Studies on the relationship between insight and QoL have produced inconsistent results. While some studies found positive associations between insight and QoL, others found negative ones. Some possible explanations for the discrepancies between these findings can be expressed: differing patients’ characteristics, heterogeneous insight or QoL measures, sample size and methodological differences. None of the previous research studies have looked at relationships between insight and QoL, as assessed respectively using the scale to assess unawareness of mental disorder (SUMD, a widely multidimensional insight questionnaire), and the S-QoL (a disease-specific patient-based instrument).

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of insight into illness on the self-reported QoL as determined by schizophrenic patients, while taking into account the key confounding factors.

This study incorporated a cross-sectional design and took place in the psychiatric department of a French public university teaching hospital (Marseille, France). The inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (DSM-IV-R), age over 18, native French speaker, agreement to participate. The following data were recorded: sociodemographic parameters (age, gender, marital status, education level, occupational activity), clinical data (in- or out-patient, clinical form), and psychopathology (Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale, PANSS). Insight was assessed using the Scale to assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD), a standardised expert-rating scale based on a patient interview describing nine domains. The S-QoL is a self-administered disease-specific instrument validated from patients’ views that includes 41 items and describes eight dimensions (psychological well-being, self-esteem, family relationships, relationships with friends, resilience, physical well-being, autonomy, and sentimental life), and yielding a global index score.

One hundred and fifty-three patients were enrolled (mean age 37.6, standard deviation 11.2). Patients with good insight generally reported a lower global QoL score, whatever the insight domains. Insight of mental disorder is the most important domain affecting QoL levels. Psychological well-being, self-esteem, physical well-being, and autonomy scores were significantly lower for subjects with good insight. Multivariate analysis showed that insight of mental disorder is the only parameter linked to the S-QoL index. No links were found between other insight domains and S-QoL index.

Patients with good insight might realise consequences of their mental illness with restrictions in daily living and alteration of their QoL, while patients with poor insight might partially overrate their QoL and present themselves as more competent.