EQ-5D-5L in Schizophrenia: differences between patients and nurses' reports.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Health Outcomes Research
• Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

Background:

• Assessing health status in schizophrenia is crucial for effective treatment.
• The EQ-5D-5L is a widely used tool for measuring health outcomes.
• Discrepancies between patient self-reports and clinician proxy-reports can impact treatment decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the level of agreement between patient self-reports and nurse proxy-reports using the EQ-5D-5L in individuals with schizophrenia.
• To explore the relationship between these reports and clinical severity as measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 206 schizophrenia patients in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• EQ-5D-5L data collected via patient interviews and nurse proxy-reports at two time points (admission and discharge).
• Statistical analysis included Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test and Spearman's rank correlation with PANSS scores.

Main Results:

• Significant differences were observed between patient and nurse reports in several EQ-5D-5L domains, including self-care, usual activities, and pain/discomfort.
• The agreement between self-reports and proxy-reports was generally poor-to-fair.
• Weak correlations were found between EQ-5D-5L scores and PANSS, particularly for proxy-reports in the second test.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights significant discordance between patient and nurse perspectives on health status in schizophrenia.
• The poor correlation with clinical severity suggests limitations in using either report alone to fully capture patient well-being.
• Further research is needed to determine the optimal method for assessing health status in this population.