Most of the evidence concerns the SF-36 and EQ-5D , and for these instruments there was evidence for known group validity .
Although the evidence base is limited in a number of important respects , including problems with the measures used to develop constructs in the validation studies , it is sufficient to raise doubts about the use of generic measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-36 in patients with schizophrenia
OBJECTIVES Generic health status measures such as the short form health survey ( SF-36 ) and EuroQol-5D ( EQ-5D ) are increasingly being used to inform health policy .
They are cl aim ed to be applicable across disease areas and have started to be used within mental health research .
This review aims to assess the construct validity and responsiveness of four generic health status measures in schizophrenia , including the preference-based SF-6D and EQ-5D .
Longer time to antipsychotic treatment discontinuation for any cause is associated with better functional outcomes for patients with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, or schizoaffective disorder.
OBJECTIVE Time to all-cause treatment discontinuation is considered a composite proxy measure of treatment efficacy , safety , and tolerability . Longer time to discontinuation of antipsychotic medication for any cause has been shown to be associated with greater symptom improvements in the treatment of schizophrenia . This study examines whether longer time to all-cause medication discontinuation is also linked to better functional outcomes . METHOD Using pooled data from 4 r and omized , double-blind antipsychotic trials of 24- to 28-weeks ' duration , this study examined the association between time to all-cause treatment discontinuation and functional outcomes , as assessed by a disease-specific , clinician-rated measure ( Quality of Life Scale [ QLS ] ) and a generic , patient-reported measure ( Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 [ SF-36 ] ) . Patients in these trials had a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia , schizophreniform disorder , or schizoaffective disorder . This post hoc analysis used Pearson partial correlations to assess relationships between time to treatment discontinuation and changes in functional scores , adjusting for baseline scores . Repeated measures analyses were also conducted to compare post-baseline functional outcome change over time between completers and noncompleters . RESULTS Longer time to all-cause treatment discontinuation was found to be significantly associated with greater improvements in all assessed functional domains ( p < .05 ) . Patients who completed their respective trials ( 46.8 % , 761/1627 ) experienced significantly greater improvement in functional outcome measures ( in 4 QLS domains and SF-36 mental health component summary score ; all , p < .001 ) compared to patients who discontinued for any cause . In addition , greater symptom improvement was significantly associated with greater functional improvements in assessed domains . CONCLUSIONS Findings from this post hoc analysis illustrate the importance of longer treatment duration with antipsychotics for improving functional outcomes in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia
Most of the evidence concerns the SF-36 and EQ-5D , and for these instruments there was evidence for known group validity .
Although the evidence base is limited in a number of important respects , including problems with the measures used to develop constructs in the validation studies , it is sufficient to raise doubts about the use of generic measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-36 in patients with schizophrenia
OBJECTIVES Generic health status measures such as the short form health survey ( SF-36 ) and EuroQol-5D ( EQ-5D ) are increasingly being used to inform health policy .
They are cl aim ed to be applicable across disease areas and have started to be used within mental health research .
This review aims to assess the construct validity and responsiveness of four generic health status measures in schizophrenia , including the preference-based SF-6D and EQ-5D .