Effect of positive and negative symptoms on schizophrenia related quality of life of hospitalized schizophrenic patients at Sargodha and Lahore: Moderating role of neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to find out the moderating effect of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the relationship between positive-negative symptoms of schizophrenia with quality of life of schizophrenic patients.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Lahore and Sargodha, Pakistan. Data was collected by administering the Positive and Negative of Schizophrenia Questionnaire, Quality of Life of Schizophrenia Scale and Neuropsychiatry Inventory. SPSS-23 was used for data analysis. The study was completed in one year. The data was collected from September 4, 2017 to November 1, 2018 after 10am.

Results: The findings indicated that positive symptoms had significant positive correlation with negative symptoms (p < 0.001) and neuropsychiatric symptoms (p < 0.001) with significant negative correlation with schizophrenia quality of life (p < 0.001). Negative symptoms had significant positive correlation with neuropsychiatric symptoms (p < 0.001) and significant negative correlation with schizophrenia related quality of life (p <0.001). Neuropsychiatric symptoms had significant negative correlation with schizophrenia quality of life (p <0.001) in the study. Moreover, neuropsychiatric symptoms moderated between negative symptoms and schizophrenia related quality of life.

Conclusions: In this study, findings suggested that negative symptoms and neuropsychiatric symptoms have positive association with quality of life of schizophrenic patients whereas positive symptoms have inverse relationship. The study also revealed that neuropsychiatric symptoms enhanced the effect of negative symptoms on quality of life of schizophrenic patients.