OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to: (i) test the reliability of a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument [Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey (SWED-QUAL)] on women patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD); (ii) compare their HRQOL to a normal population group comparable in age; and (iii) test for subgroup differences in HRQOL considering psychiatric DSM axis-I comorbidity. METHOD: The study was conducted in connection to a randomized, controlled trial of psychotherapy for women BPD patients. Seventy-five women with BPD diagnosis were administered the SWED-QUAL. Statistic reliability was evaluated with inter-item correlations, total-item correlations and internal consistency criterions. The BPD patients' SWED-QUAL results were compared with data extracted from a published study and subgroup differences due to axis-I comorbidity were analysed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: SWED-QUAL could be considered as an instrument with acceptable reliability when assessing HRQOL in BPD patients. The BPD patients suffered significant impairments in HRQOL overall health dimensions compared to normal population. There were no subgroup differences due to axis-I comorbidity, which indicate that BPD in itself might be a predictor of substantial HRQOL impairment.