Quality of life with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: a study among Primary Care users

Quality of life (QOL) can be affected by the presence of mental disorders, like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Thus, the evaluation and monitoring of QOL in patients with mental disorders enables the identification of priorities, making it possible to implement actions to improve QOL among health system users. The scope of this article is to measure QOL in OCD patients in primary health care. It involves a cross-sectional study with a convenience sample including all users of three Basic Health Units of Pelotas in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The quality of life was measured with the WHOQOL-Bref and the OCD was assessed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) This study included 1081 individuals. The prevalence of OCD was 3.9%. OCD patients had a lower average in all domains of QOL when compared to individuals without OCD (p<0.001). The findings of this study emphasize the importance of using QOL as a monitoring tool of the disorder in basic health care.