Caregiver Burden and Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Affective Disorder: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) often suffer from a poor quality of life (QoL) due to factors such as persistent symptoms, lack of social support, and medication non-adherence, which in turn reduces their work productivity and often leads to a physical, emotional, and social burden on caregivers.
Aim: To assess and compare the relationship between subjective caregiver burden and the severity of symptoms, medication adherence, and QoL in patients diagnosed with SCZ and BPAD.
Materials and methods: Fifty SCZ and seventy-three BPAD patients and their respective caregivers participated in the study. Caregivers reported their care burden using the Zarit Burden Interview-22 item (ZBI-22), and patients reported their QoL and medication adherence using the WHO-Quality of life 26 item (WHOQOL-BREF 26) item and the Medication Adherence Rating Scale 10 item (MARS-10).
Results: The QoL across all domains and caregiver burden scores were comparable between the two groups. However, medication adherence was higher among individuals with BPAD than among those with SCZ, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.51). The mean severity scores indicated moderate illness. Both the PANSS and YMRS demonstrated negative correlations with medication adherence, while quality-of-life domains (p<0.001) and subjective caregiver burden (p <0.001) were inversely related.
Conclusion: Patients with SCZ and BPAD have poor QoL. The severity of illness in SCZ and BPAD mania was associated with poor medication adherence. These findings suggest that illness severity and adherence to medication are key predictors of caregiver burden.