Quality of life in treated and never-treated schizophrenic patients

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate quality of life (QOL) among treated and never-treated schizophrenic patients. METHOD: QOL ratings were obtained for (a) 112 Moroccan participants with schizophrenia who had never received neuroleptic medications, (b) matched samples of chronically-medicated schizophrenic patients in Morocco and the United States and (c) matched community controls in both countries. RESULTS: QOL ratings were generally higher for US groups, although Moroccan controls obtained higher ratings than US controls for some domains. QOL ratings were higher for controls compared to patients within each country, although US patients' scores were similar to controls on some dimensions. We found no differences between treated and untreated Moroccan patients for any QOL domain, although relationships among predictors were different. CONCLUSION: Within the context of Moroccan culture, benefits of medications alone are not evident in QOL scores. QOL appears to be a complex construct influenced by different factors within each of the groups studied.