Olanzapine vs. Risperidone in Schizophrenia: A Cross-sectional Comparison of Quality of Life of Caregivers.

In schizophrenia, efficacy of antipsychotic therapy might be better measured by quality of life (QoL) of caregiver, due to less reliability of patient's account and greater burden of management on caregiver. Hence, we compared QoL of the primary caregiver of schizophrenics prescribed either olanzapine or risperidone. In a cross sectional analytical study, caregivers of 120 schizophrenic patients' on either olanzapine or risperidone filled the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire containing physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. Scores of these domains in both the groups were compared. Majority (33.3%) of caregivers in both groups were parents. The mean transformed scores in all domains viz. physical (p=0.358), psychological (p=0.352), social relationships (p=0.332) and environmental (p=0.448) were statistically similar. More than 75% of the subjects in both groups showed the highest satisfaction in work capacity, personal relations, physical pain, requirement of medications, frequency of negative feelings, safety and body appearanc, whereas ≤ 50% of the caregivers in both groups expressed dissatisfaction with their financial situation. Thus, QoL of caregivers in both groups was comparable. On the basis of QoL of caregivers, olanzapine and risperidone were similarly effective therapeutic agents for schizophrenia.