Administering the Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire to sarcoidosis patients in Serbia

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to use a Serbian-language version of the disease-specific, self-report Sarcoidosis Health Questionnaire (SHQ), which was designed and originally validated in the United States, to assess health status in sarcoidosis patients in Serbia, as well as validating the instrument for use in the country. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 346 patients with biopsy-confirmed sarcoidosis. To evaluate the health status of the patients, we used the SHQ, which was translated into Serbian for the purposes of this study. We compared SHQ scores by patient gender and age, as well as by disease duration and treatment. Lower SHQ scores indicate poorer health status. Results: The SHQ scores demonstrated differences in health status among subgroups of the sarcoidosis patients evaluated. Health status was found to be significantly poorer among female patients and older patients, as well as among those with chronic sarcoidosis or extrapulmonary manifestations of the disease. Monotherapy with methotrexate was found to be associated with better health status than was monotherapy with prednisone or combination therapy with prednisone and methotrexate. Conclusions: The SHQ is a reliable, disease-specific, self-report instrument. Although originally designed for use in the United States, the SHQ could be a useful tool for the assessment of health status in various non-English-speaking populations of sarcoidosis patients.

Health-related quality of life in cardiac sarcoidosis: a systematic review

“…None of the studies focused solely on CS patients or reported stratified HRQoL scores for CS patients, but four papers presented some adjusted analysis related to HRQoL and cardiac involvement. 41 , 45 , 46 , 48 Almost half of studies ( n = 5, 45%) used combinations of generic and sarcoidosis-specific HRQoL tools, and sarcoidosis-specific HRQoL were used individually in over a third of studies ( n = 4, 36%). Only one study included longitudinal data for HRQoL assessments (follow-up every 12 months for 3 years) ( Table 1 ).…”

“…No confidence intervals included. 46 Data analysed retrospectively from a multi-national database ( n = 456). Participants with advanced sarcoidosis ( n = 231) were followed up every 6 months for 3 years, but only baseline HRQoL assessments were reported.…”

Health-Related Quality of Life in Sarcoidosis

“…128 In that study, treatment with prednisone either as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate was associated with poorer HRQoL than treatment with methotrexate alone. 128 The SHQ has demonstrated good measurement properties in cross-sectional and longitudinal assessment of patients. 119 Dudvarski-Ilić et al showed that at baseline, patients with sarcoidosis reported low HRQoL in all SHQ domains with the lowest scores reported by females in the emotional domain.…”

“…73 It has been validated in several different languages 35,120,122,128 and used extensively. 35,68,72,73,107,[118][119][120][121][122]128 Mihailović-Vučinić et al evaluated 346 Serbian patients with sarcoidosis, and found that HRQoL was significantly lower among females, older patients, and those with chronic sarcoidosis and extrapulmonary manifestations of disease. 128 In that study, treatment with prednisone either as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate was associated with poorer HRQoL than treatment with methotrexate alone.…”

“…Most studies have associated corticosteroid therapy and higher doses of corticosteroids with poorer HRQoL. 30,76,118,128,159 Treatment regimens that result in lower doses of corticosteroids or that optimize steroid-sparing medications have been associated with improved HRQoL. 125,128 Obesity, a known complication of corticosteroid therapy, has also been associated with increased fatigue and worse HRQoL independent of corticosteroid therapy.…”