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. 2020 Mar 13;29(8):2073–2087. doi: 10.1007/s11136-020-02470-0

Table 3.

Associations between socio-demographic, psychiatric anamnestic and clinical factors and quality of life by WHOQOL-BREF sections based on domain-specific multifactorial analyses of variance

WHOQOL-BREF WHOQOL-BREF domains
Global Scale Physical Psychological Social Environmental
Mean (95% CI) Mean (95% CI) Mean (95% CI) Mean (95% CI) Mean (95% CI)
Main diagnosis (F, df) (3.30, 6) (2.36, 6) (4.93, 6) (0.99, 6) (0.73, 6)
 Unipolar depression 32.2 (24.2 to 40.3) 40.1 (34.3 to 45.8) 34.7 (28.3 to 41.0) 44.1 (35.0 to 53.2) 52.5 (46.3 to 58.8)
 Bipolar depression 43.5 (32.7 to 54.2) 47.3 (39.6 to 55.1) 44.8 (36.3 to 53.3) 48.5 (36.3 to 60.7) 54.2 (45.8 to 62.6)
 Schizophrenia 40.5 (30.9 to 50.0) 46.4 (39.5 to 53.2) 45.2 (37.7 to 52.7) 50.0 (39.2 to 60.8) 53.5 (46.0 to 60.9)
 Schizoaffective disorder 39.4 (27.5 to 51.3) 43.1 (34.5 to 51.6) 40.0 (30.6 to 49.5) 53.6 (40.0 to 67.1) 56.1 (46.8 to 65.4) 
 Neurotic disorder 32.4 (23.2 to 41.6) 44.1 (37.5 to 50.7) 41.1 (33.8 to 48.2) 46.9 (36.4 to 57.3) 53.7 (46.5 to 60.9)
 Dementia 45.9 (30.1 to 61.6) 43.4 (32.1 to 54.7) 39.6 (27.2 to 52.1) 50.3 (32.4 to 68.2) 58.0 (45.7 to 70.4)
 Alcohol addiction 55.0 (34.1 to 75.9) 48.1 (32.1 to 54.7) 50.7 (34.2 to 67.3) 49.7 (25.9 to 73.5) 66.3 (49.9 to 82.6)
Sex (F, df) (0.35, 1) (1.98, 1) (0.06, 1) (0.22, 1) (0.07, 1)
 Male 41.9 (33.5 to 50.4) 45.8 (39.7 to 51.8) 42.5 (35.9 to 49.2) 49.6 (40.0 to 59.2) 56.6 (50.0 to 63.2)
 Female 40.6 (32.3 to 48.8) 43.5 (37.6 to 49.4) 42.1 (35.6 to 48.6) 48.4 (39.0 to 57.8) 56.1 (49.6 to 62.5)
Living situation (F, df) (0.13, 5) (1.06, 5) (1.26, 5) (0.64, 5) (0.95, 5)
 Living alone 41.5 (36.7 to 46.3) 45.5 (42.0 to 48.9) 45.8 (42.0 to 49.6) 46.0 (40.5 to 51.4) 57.5 (53.8 to 61.3)
 With partner or relatives 41.4 (36.3 to 46.5) 43.7 (40.0 to 47.4) 43.6 (39.6 to 47.7) 49.2 (43.4 to 55.0) 60.2 (56.2 to 64.2)
 With parents 40.5 (30.9 to 50.1) 46.3 (39.4 to 53.2) 50.9 (43.3 to 58.4) 46.1 (35.2 to 56.9) 61.1 (53.6 to 68.5)
 Assisted living 46.4 (26.2 to 66.6) 56.2 (41.7 to 70.7) 38.7 (22.7 to 54.6) 60.5 (37.5 to 83.4) 60.5 (44.8 to 76.3)
Subsistence (F, df) (0.62, 4) (0.76, 4) (2.24, 4) (2.97, 4) (2.31, 4)
 Own income 42.5 (33.5 to 51.5) 45.5 (39.1 to 52.0) 43.8 (36.7 to 50.9) 54.4 (44.2 to 64.6) 58.2 (51.2 to 65.3)
 Retirement/disability pension 37.8 (29.3 to 46.4) 42.0 (35.9 to 48.2) 37.7 (30.9 to 44.5) 48.1 (38.4 to 57.9) 55.9 (49.2 to 62.6)
 Unemployment/sick benefit 41.0 (32.0 to 50.1) 45.9 (39.4 to 52.4) 45.3 (38.1 to 52.4) 52.0 (41.7 to 62.3) 58.6 (51.5 to 65.7)
 Social welfare 42.7 (33.6 to 51.9) 45.1 (38.5 to 51.7) 42.9 (35.7 to 50.2) 42.7 (32.3 to 53.1) 51.7 (44.6 to 59.0)
 Support by partners/family 42.2 (31.7 to 52.7) 44.6 (37.1 to 52.1) 41.9 (33.6 to 50.2) 47.7 (35.8 to 59.6) 57.2 (49.0 to 65.4)
Psychiatric co-diagnoses (F, df) (1.04, 2) (2.50, 2) (0.23, 2) (0.29, 2) (0.64, 2)
 None 42.7 (34.4 to 51.0) 44.5 (38.5 to 50.4) 42.9 (36.3 to 49.4) 48.1 (38.7 to 57.6) 55.9 (49.4 to 62.4)
 One 42.3 (33.6 to 51.0) 47.0 (40.8 to 53.2) 42.7 (35.8 to 49.5) 50.1 (40.3 to 60.0) 57.6 (50.9 to 64.4)
 More than one 38.9 (30.0 to 47.6) 42.5 (36.1 to 48.8) 41.4 (34.4 to 48.4) 48.7 (38.7 to 58.8) 55.4 (48.5 to 62.3)
WHOQOL-BREF WHOQOL-BREF domains
Global Scale Physical Psychological Social Environmental
Regr. coeff. (95% CI) Regr. coeff. (95% CI) Regr. coeff. (95% CI) Regr. coeff. (95% CI) Regr. coeff. (95% CI)
Age (year) (F, df)

(0.14, 1)

0.03 (− 0.15 to 0.21)

(0.67, 1)

0.05 (− 0.07 to 0.18)

(5.38, 1)

0.17 (0.03 to 0.31)

(0.00, 1)

 − 0.01 (− 0.21 to 0.20)

(1.09, 1)

0.07 (− 0.07 to 0.21)

Number of episodes (F, df)

(0.25, 1)

0.08 (− 0.23 to 0.39)

(1.20, 1)

0.12 (− 0.10 to 0.35)

(0.52, 1)

0.09 (− 0.15 to 0.33)

(0.00, 1) 

− 0.00 (− 0.35 to 0.35)

(0.32, 1)

0.07 (− 1.7 to 0.31)

Number of suicide attempts (F, df)

(1.03, 1)

0.83 (− 0.79 to 2.46)

(0.20, 1) 

− 0.26 (− 1.43 to 0.90)

(1.22, 1)

 − 0.72 (− 2.01 to 0.56)

(0.40, 1)

0.59 (− 1.25 to 2.44)

(0.04, 1)

0.14 (− 1.13 to 1.4)

GAF score (F, df)

(0.23, 1)

0.07 (− 0.20 to 0.33)

(0.32, 1)

0.06 (− 0.14 to 0.25)

(0.10, 1)

0.03 (− 0.18 to 0.25)

(1.31, 1) 

− 0.18 (− 0.48 to 0.13)

(0.00, 1)

0.01 (− 0.20 to 0.22)

CGI severity score (F, df)

(5.92, 1) 

− 4.07 (− 7.35 to − 0.78)

(2.71, 1)

 − 1.97 (− 4.33 to 0.38)

(2.99, 1)

 − 2.28 (− 4.88 to 0.31)

(0.11, 1)

0.64 (− 3.09 to 4.36)

(5.65, 1) 

− 3.10 (− 5.67 to − 0.54)

R2/corrected R2 0.084/0.029 0.088/0.035 0.116/0.064 0.056/0.001 0.067/0.012

The results are expressed as the means with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for categorical variables or regression coefficients with 95% CI for continuous variables (all results adjusted for main diagnosis, living situation, subsistence, sex, psychiatric co-diagnoses, age, number of episodes, number of suicidal attempts, GAF score, and CGI score)

GAF global assessment of function, CGI clinical global impression