Family burden, quality of life and disability in Obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder that often tends to run a chronic course. The lifetime prevalence of OCD is around 1-3%, which is twice as prevalent as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.AIM:To asses the family burden, quality of life (QoL) and disability in patients suffering from at least moderately ill OCD and then to compare them with schizophrenia patients of comparable severity.SETTINGS AND DESIGN:We recruited 100 subjects (OCD=50, schizophrenia=50) who met study criteria between September2010 and September2011 from Zagazig university hospitals, psychiatric outpatients clinics. They were diagnosed according to DSM IV diagnostic criteria. Control group consisting of 50 of healthy subjects were matched with patient group as possible as regard age, sex.The participants gave informed consent.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Instruments used in the current study were the Family Burden Schedule, the World Health Organization (WHO) QoL (Bref) and the WHO - Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS).STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Mean (standard deviation [SD]) and percentages were used for descriptive purposes. Chi-square tests were applied to compare the socio-demographic and clinical variables in both groups. Student’s t test was applied for group comparisons of demographic variables, clinical characteristics, QOL, disability.