Little is known about the changes of people with schizophrenia disability in Taiwan who receive routine treatments under the current mental healthcare system. The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) was used to assess and track changes in the degree of disability in people with schizophrenia before and after 4 years of follow-up. Data on 4497 people with schizophrenia were acquired from the Taiwan Data Bank of Persons with Disability. The WHODAS 2.0 was used for disability assessment, and the chi-square test, logistic regression and generalised estimating equations were adopted for statistical analysis. People with schizophrenia exhibited improvement in cognition, mobility and participation among the six domains as well as in the overall score. The degree of disability in all domains remained mild to moderate among people aged 18-64 years; the degree of disability in cognition declined from moderate to severe among patients aged >= 65 years. The degree of disability in all domains remained mild to moderate among people with mild to moderate impairment; among those with severe impairment, the degree of disability in the domains of cognition and life activities declined from moderate to severe and the degree of disability in the domain of mobility declined from mild to moderate. Community-dwelling patients exhibited less degree of disability in all domains than their institutionalised peers. Early detection and treatment and an emphasis on communication and social problem-solving skills in rehabilitation programmes are recommended for people with schizophrenia.
