Quality of life in borderline patients comorbid with anxiety spectrum disorders – a cross-sectional study

Figures & data

Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
Diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder – borderline type according to ICD-10	Acute decompensation of severe somatic illness
Male or female aged between 18 and 65 years	History of bipolar affective disorder
Completed informed consent	History of major depressive disorder
	History of schizophrenia
	Mental retardation
	Current suicidal behavior

Abbreviation: ICD-10, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision.

Table 2 Demographic and clinical data of the patients and controls

Variable	Patients (n=92)	Controls (n=40)	Statistic
Age (years)	30.49±9.25	28.88±9.68	Mann–Whitney test; U=1,669; ns
Sex (M:F)	24:68	12:28	Fisher’s exact test; ns
Age of disease onset of the psychiatric treatment (years)	22.69±11.13
Lifetime duration of treatment (years)	7.83±7.20
Psychiatric heredity	42 (45.7%)
Education			Chi-square; ns
Elementary	13	2
Vocational training	21	4
Secondary school	46	28
University	12	6
Marital status			Chi-square; P<0.0005
Single	64	24
Married	12	12
Divorced	15	4
Widowed	1	0
objCGI severity	4.34±1.07
subjCGI severity	4.19±1.27
BAI	26.41±11.12	7.88±7.41	Unpaired t-test: t=11.09, df=130; P<0.0001
BDI	29.03±10.09	6.03±5.07	Unpaired t-test: t=11.93, df=130; P<0.0001
Q-LES-Q domains
Physical health	29.45±9.73 (n=92)	42.53±11.47 (n=40)	Unpaired t-test: t=6.714, df=130; P<0.0001
Feelings	30.48±9.61 (n=69)	44.70±5.91 (n=30)	Unpaired t-test: t=7.498, df=97; P<0.0001
Work	42.22±10.88 (n=32)	55.12±6.72 (n=17)	Unpaired t-test: t=4.446, df=47; P<0.0001
Household	33.8±8.75 (n=92)	55.18±8.43 (n=40)	Unpaired t-test: t=13.04, df=130; P<0.0001
School/study	27.50±6.52 (n=10)	35.83±7.81 (n=30)	Unpaired t-test: t=3.032, df=38; P<0.005
Leisure	17.15±4.95 (n=92)	25.03±3.96 (n=40)	Unpaired t-test: t=8.899, df=130; P<0.0001
Social activities	20.10±9.90 (n=92)	45.53±7.49 (n=40)	Unpaired t-test: t=8.809, df=130; P<0.0001
General	36.24±9.21 (n=92)	57.83±10.21 (n=40)	Unpaired t-test: t=11.97, df=130; P<0.0001
DES	19.06±15.23
DES-T	13.55±17.38

Note: Data are presented as mean ± SD or n (%).

Abbreviations: ns, non-significant; M, male; F, female; objCGI, objective Clinical Global Impression; subjCGI, subjective Clinical Global Impression; BAI, Beck Anxiety Inventory; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; Q-LES-Q, Quality of Life Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire; df, degrees of freedom; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale; DES-T, Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon; SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 Comorbid disorders with borderline personality disorder on Axis I and II

Types of comorbidity	Number of patients	Percentage of patients
Anxiety spectrum disorders
Panic disorder/agoraphobia	17	18.5
Social phobia	19	20.7
Generalized anxiety disorder/mixed anxiety depression disorder	16	17.4
Obsessive–compulsive disorder	5	5.4
Posttraumatic stress disorder	8	8.7
Adjustment disorder	21	22.8
Somatoform disorder/dissociative disorders	6	6.5
Two or more comorbidities	18	19.6
Axis II comorbidities
Avoidant personality disorder	6	6.5
Mixed personality disorder	6	6.5
History of minor depressive disorder	5	5.4

Note: Data are presented as n and %.

Table 4 Quality of life and comorbid diagnosis with different anxiety spectrum disorders

Q-LES-Q domains	Panic disorder/agoraphobia (n=17)	Social phobia (n=19)	GAD (n=16)	Adjustment disorders (n=21)	Others (n=19)
Physical health	26.9±8.5	29.9±11.4	29.6±6.5	30.7±9.8	29.7±11.7
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.3693, df=91; ns
Feelings	33.3±7.5	28.6±11.4	35.9±10.5	29.4±9.5	26.5±7.5
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=2.183, df=68; ns
Household	34.8±10.3	32.4±8.4	36.3±8.1	34.8±7.3	31.2±9.5
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.013, df=91; ns
Leisure	18.2±5.0	16.4±5.2	19.7±3.7	16.5±4.9	15.6±5.1
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.982, df=91; ns
Social activities	31.9±14.6	27.6±8.8	30.8±8.5	30.5±7.3	29.9±10.0
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.4596, df=91; ns
General	35.2±9.1	37.4±10.7	36.5±10.1	37.0±7.4	35.0±9.5
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.2446, df=91; ns

Note: Data are presented as mean ± SD.

Abbreviations: Q-LES-Q, Quality of Life Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire; GAD, generalized anxiety disorder; df, degrees of freedom; ns, nonsignificant; SD, standard deviation.

Table 5 Comorbidity and clinical measurements

	Panic disorder/agoraphobia (n=17)	Social phobia (n=19)	GAD (n=16)	Adjustment disorders (n=21)	Others (n=19)
DES	19.45±16.66	14.01±12.01	18.53±14.24	19.65±14.82	23.59±17.84
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.9563, df=90; ns
DES-T	15.60±18.78	8.07±10.80	10.04±13.81	12.56±13.42	21.17±24.90
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.675, df=90; ns
BDI	27.06±9.01	26.74±10.71	29.38±9.19	30.52±9.56	31.16±11.79
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.5738, df=91; ns
BAI	32.82±12.51	22.42±8.19	24.75±10.69	25.00±10.71	27.63±11.59
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=2.394, df=91; ns (P=0.0566); Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test: panic disorder/agoraphobia vs social phobia, P<0.05
SAS	71.06±19.82	58.89±21.53	58.38±20.29	58.30±18.44	64.68±25.75
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.205, df=90; ns
objCGI-S	4.77±0.90	4.05±1.27	4.19±1.05	4.19±0.93	4.53±1.12
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.356, df=91; ns
subjCGI-S	4.41±1.06	4.42±1.12	4.13±1.15	3.76±1.48	4.42±1.31
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.082, df=91; ns
SDS-work/school	6.80±2.66	7.54±1.61	6.55±2.81	5.57±2.62	6.81±3.04
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.003, df=63; ns
SDS-social life	6.65±1.54	7.26±2.28	6.13±1.82	6.00±2.56	6.42±3.01
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=0.8637, df=90; ns
SDS-family	5.88±2.09	5.68±2.36	5.19±3.02	5.55±2.59	7.05±2.84
Statistic	One-way analysis of variance: F=1.365, df=90; ns

Note: Data are presented as mean ± SD.

Abbreviations: GAD, generalized anxiety disorder; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale; DES-T, Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; BAI, Beck Anxiety Inventory; SAS, Sheehan Anxiety Scale; objCGI, objective Clinical Global Impression; subjCGI, subjective Clinical Global Impression; SDS, Sheehan Disability Scale; df, degrees of freedom; ns, nonsignificant; SD, standard deviation.

Table 6 Correlations of the Q-LES -Q results with demographic and clinical data

Variable	Physical health	Feelings	Work	Household	Leisure	Social activities	General
Age	−0.1553a	0.2148a	0.1342a	0.0846a	0.0137a	−0.0885a	−0.0812a
Age of disorder onset	−0.2093a*	0.098a	0.2741a	0.0689a	−0.0121a	0.0014a	−0.0152a
Length of the disorder	0.0947a	0.1371a	−0.2497a	−0.0238a	0.0340a	−0.1101a	−0.0811a
DES	−0.1110b	−0.1047b	−0.0721b	−0.1287b	−0.2240b,*	−0.0441b	−0.0803b
DES-T	−0.1249b	−0.1883b	−0.1558b	−0.1549b	−0.2394b,*	−0.1342b	−0.1928b
BDI	−0.4166a,***	−0.3779a,**	−0.5493a,**	−0.6680a,***	−0.4721a,***	−0.5214a,***	−0.6336a,***
BAI	−0.3629a,***	−0.0403a	0.0603a	−0.2951a,**	−0.2085a,*	0.0122a	−0.3506a,***
SAS	−0.3935a,***	−0.1719a	−0.2251a	−0.4420a,***	−0.3623a,***	−0.1577a	−0.4642a,***
objCGI-S	−0.4119b***	−0.1021	−0.1458	−0.5725b***	−0.3927b***	−0.3415b***	−0.5498b***
subjCGI-S	−0.2920b**	−0.0665	−0.0479	−0.2930b**	−0.1482	−0.2726b*	−0.3676b***
SDS-work	−0.3547b***	−0.058b	−0.2882b	−0.2357b	−0.2381a,*	−0.1636b	−0.1778b
SDS-social life	−0.3437b***	−0.3601b**	−0.5414b**	−0.5355b***	−0.5257b***	−0.5667b***	−0.5506b***
SDS-family	−0.3715b***	−0.3650b**	−0.4659b**	−0.5284b***	−0.5163b***	−0.4798b***	−0.5519b***
Antidepressants (n=63)	−0.1820a	−0.0177a	−0.0818a	−0.2101a	−0.2733a,*	−0.2300a	−0.2347a*
Antipsychotics (n=35)	−0.2328a	−0.2694a	0.1127a	−0.1288a	−0.3202a	−0.2702a	−0.2389a
Anxiolytics (n=28)	0.2289	0.2130	−0.0634a	−0.2339a	−0.0031a	−0.0166a	−0.2496a

Notes: Data are presented as mean ± SD.

a Pearson.

b Spearman.

* P<0.05.

** P<0.01.

*** P<0.001.

Abbreviations: Q-LES-Q, Quality of Life Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale; DES-T, Dissociative Experiences Scale Taxon; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; BAI, Beck Anxiety Inventory; S, severity; SAS, Sheehan Anxiety Scale; objCGI, objective Clinical Global Impression; subjCGI, subjective Clinical Global Impression; SDS, Sheehan Disability Scale; SD, standard deviation.

Table 7 Backward stepwise regression of the factors correlated with Q-LES-Q domains

	Domain (dependent variables)
	Physical health	Feelings	Work	Household	Leisure	Social activities	General
Significant correlation with (independent variables)	Onset	BDI	BDI	BDI	DES	BDI	BDI
	BAI	SDS-family	SDS-social	SDS-family	BAI	SDS-social	SDS-social
	BDI	SDS-social	SDS-family	SDS-social	BDI	SDS-family	SDS-family
	SAS			BAI	SAS		AD dosage
	objCGI			SAS	objCGI
	SDS-work			objCGI	SDS-work
	SDS-social				SDS-social
	SDS-family				SDS-family
					AD dosage
Number of steps Adjusted r^2 Variables	5	2	3	4	8	2	3
	0.301	0.227	0.267	0.533	0.495	0.340	0.510
	Onset:	BDI:	BDI:	BDI:	DES:	SDS-social:	SDS-social:
	β=−0.256,	β=−0.226,	β=−0.539,	β=−0.493,	β=−0.230,	β=−0.322,	β=−0.429,
	P=0.018*	P=0.056	P=0.002**	P=0.000***	P=0.033*	P=0.001***	P=0.000***
	BAI:	SDS-family:		SDS-family:	SDS-social:	BDI: β=−0.386,	BDI:
	β=−0.200,	β=−0.368,		β=−0.176,	β=−0.635,	P=0.000***	β=−0.395,
	P=0.088	P=0.002**		P=0.045*	P=0.000***		P=0.000***
	BDI:			SDS-social:
	β=−0.332,			β=−0.242,
	P=0.005**			P=0.006**
	SDS-work:
	β=−0.265,
	P=0.015*

Notes: β is the standardized coefficient.

* P<0.01;

** P<0.01;

*** P<0.001.

Abbreviations: Q-LES-Q, Quality of Life Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; DES, Dissociative Experiences Scale; BAI, Beck Anxiety Inventory; SDS, Sheehan Disability Scale; SAS, Sheehan Anxiety Scale; AD, antidepressant; objCGI, objective Clinical Global Impression.

Figure 1 Q-LES-Q domains in controls and patients in percents.

Abbreviation: Q-LES-Q, Quality of Life Satisfaction and Enjoyment Questionnaire.