Well-being in clozapine-treated schizophrenia patients: the significance of positive symptoms

Abstract

OBJECTIVES Well-being perception is seldom explored in schizophrenia patients. Recurrent limitations, such as the questionable applicability of gold standard definitions of health and well-being, and fewer tools available to assess well-being, are pronounced in this subpopulation. This cross-sectional study sought to explore potential clinical factors that may predict subjective well-being scores in chronic schizophrenia patients (N=142) receiving clozapine treatment. METHODS The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS) was used to measure well-being. We correlated SWEMWBS scores and 27 clinically recognized factors, spanning socio-demographics, symptom severity scores, physical health diagnosis, clozapine side effects, habits and prescribed medication. Factors with a p<0.2 correlation were included as a predictors in a linear regression model. RESULTS Ten factors were included in the linear regression model, however only positive symptom severity was a significant predictor of SWEMWBS score (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS We suggest that greater levels of clinical attention given to positive symptoms compared with other symptoms and aspects of well-being, during biomedical treatment for chronic schizophrenia, may partially explain the finding that only positive symptoms significantly predicted patient perceptions of low well-being.