Abstract
BACKGROUND: The quality of life of schizophrenics is an important public health issue, but studies exploring the mechanisms that contribute to the quality of life are still lacking. We aimed to investigate the relevance of social support, anxiety and depression symptoms on the quality of life in community-dwelling schizophrenics, particularly the mediating roles of these symptoms between social support and quality of life. METHODS: Data were collected from a cohort study of community-dwelling schizophrenics in west China. The relationship between main variables was discussed through correlation analysis. Causal mediation analysis was used to explore the direct effect of social support on patients' quality of life and the indirect effect through anxiety and depression symptoms. RESULTS: Of 915 included participants, the mean age was 50.85 (SD = 12.48) years, and 437 (47.76%) were males. Social support was negatively correlated with anxiety and depression symptoms and positively correlated with quality of life. Anxiety and depression symptoms were both negatively correlated with quality of life. The results of parallel multiple mediation analysis showed that anxiety and depression symptoms jointly mediated this association. The total natural indirect effect of social support on physical health was 0.060 (95%CI: 0.036, 0.089) and on mental health was 0.084 (95%CI: 0.046, 0.127). But no significant direct effect was found in the multiple mediation analysis of social support on mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Social support can affect quality of life either directly or indirectly through anxiety and depression symptoms in community-dwelling schizophrenics. It may provide references for subsequent studies on related mechanisms of action.