Effects of mood and age on quality of life in depressed inpatients

Background: Prior investigations have demonstrated a link between quality of life (QOL) deficits and depression. This report elaborates on prior investigations findings by implementation of formal assignment of the diagnosis of depression and a hierarchical approach to assessment of QOL. Methods: A masters or doctoral level mental health clinician used the SCID to confirm a diagnosis of major depression in ninety psychiatric inpatients. Function was assessed with the PSMS (a measure of ADL), the IADL scale, and the 'daily living and role functioning' and the 'relation to self and others' subscales of the Basis-32. Results: Patient age and severity of depression were the most consistent predictors of QOL deficits, although the direction of the age-effect on QOL depended on the specific measure of QOL. Increasing severity of depression was consistently associated with worse QOL, and remained significant after adjusting for age. Limitations: The cross-sectional method of this study limits the inference of causality between depression severity and poor QOL. Conclusions: QOL deficits in acutely depressed hospitalized patients occur at multiple strata in the hierarchy of behavior and are most consistently influenced by age and severity of depression. The effect of age on QOL in depressed inpatients is complex, and age is not uniformly associated with poor QOL. Copyright (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.