Sensory gating deficits and impaired quality of life in patients with schizophrenia: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND New determinants of quality of life in schizophrenia need to be identified. As sensory gating deficit is core impairment in schizophrenia, the present study hypothesized that sensory gating deficit is a determinant of impaired quality of life in schizophrenia. This study therefore investigated the relationship between sensory gating deficit and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia after adjusting for key confounding factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Sensory gating was assessed with the auditory event-related potential method by measuring P50 amplitude changes in a double-click conditioning-testing procedure, perceptual impairments related to sensory gating deficit was assessed with the SGI questionnaire and quality of life was assessed with the SQoL 18 questionnaire in 39 patients with schizophrenia. RESULTS Patients with sensory gating deficit (n=14) had a lower subjective quality of life on the psychological well-being dimension evaluated with SQoL 18 questionnaire (p=0.008) compared to those without it (n=25). This result remained significant (B=-0.45, Wald=4.84, p=0.02) after taking into account 7 potential confounding factors (gender, age, level of education, duration of disorder, positive symptoms, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms). Poorer psychological well-being was related to a higher score on the SGI (rho=-0.40, p=0.01), in particular on the Distractibility dimension (rho=-0.47, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that sensory gating deficit may be a determinant of impaired quality of life in schizophrenia. Further studies are needed to address the causal relationship between sensory gating deficit, perceptual impairments, attentional deficit and impaired quality of life in schizophrenia in order to act more efficiently on the quality of life of patients with this disorder.