Subjective quality of life in female in-patients with depression: a longitudinal study

This study investigated Subjective Quality of Life (SQOL) in 42 women with depression, 70 women with alcoholism, and 73 women with schizophrenia within 3 weeks after hospital admission. Twenty-eight of the depressive patients were re-examined after 6 months. SQOL was assessed using the German version of the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. On average, depressive women expressed dissatisfaction with life as a whole and with 4 out of 8 life domains, and had a lower SQOL than the other two diagnostic groups. Differences remain statistically significant when the influence of age and anxiety/depression is controlled for. SQOL in depressive women improved significantly within the follow up period. Positive SQOL change was moderately correlated with an improvement of depressive symptoms. The results indicate that depressive women after hospital admission express an unusually low SQOL, which seems to have some diagnostic specificity and improves over time. Changes in depressive symptoms do not fully explain SQOL changes.