A multicentre, cross-sectional study on quality of life in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Background A study at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Medical Center demonstrated that quality of life in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) patients is negatively impacted. Whether CLE patients in other geographic locations have similar quality of life is unknown. Objective We sought to compare quality of life indicators between CLE patients at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center at Dallas and UPenn. Methods 248 CLE patients at UTSW (N=91) and UPenn (N=157) completed the Skindex-29+3 and Short Form-36 (SF-36) surveys related to quality of life. Additional information including demographics, presence of SLE, and disease severity were collected from UTSW CLE patients. Results Most Skindex-29+3 and SF-36 sub-domain scores between UTSW and UPenn CLE patients were similar. However, UTSW CLE patients were significantly more affected in the functioning and lupus-specific Skindex-29+3 domains, and physical functioning, role-physical, and general health SF-36 subscales than UPenn CLE patients (p<0.05). Factors related to poor quality of life in UTSW CLE patients include gender, income, education, presence of SLE, and skin disease activity. Conclusions Most quality of life indicators were similar between the two CLE populations. Differences in psychosocial behavior, and a larger proportion of SLE patients and females in the UTSW group likely attributed to differences in a minority of Skindex-29+3 and SF-36 sub-domains. Capturing data from CLE populations in different locations provides a more thorough picture of the quality of life that CLE patients experience on a daily basis with special attention to quality of life issues in select CLE patients.

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus: Diagnosis and treatment

“…A large study by Jolly et al further validated the CLASI tool, which has proven to be a valuable resource for research into CLE pathogenesis and treatment [40]. This tool is being used in many international studies and has been shown to be responsive to improvement in disease activity, as well as correlate with quality of life and a number of biomarkers [41-45]. Further physical exam should investigate for signs that may be seen in systemic disease, such as vasculitic lesions.…”

Evaluation of the quality of life of lupus erythematosus patients with cutaneous lesions in Japan

“…This result suggests that the QOL of females tended to be worse than males, and is in agreement with previous reports, although the male group in this study was very small. 2,15 Subtypes of LE To assess the relationship between the subtypes of LE and the QOL, we chose SLE and CLE, but excluded MCTD and overlap syndrome because of the complexity of their conditions. The scores from the Skindex-29 decreased significantly after treatment in the three subscales in both SLE and CLE patients (p < 0.005) ( Figure 3).…”

Therapeutic options for cutaneous lupus erythematosus: recent advances and future prospects

“…The CLASI™ has been validated against physician- and patient-reported outcomes, including measures of cutaneous damage [5] and quality of life [4]. The latter is especially important to consider in the assessment of these patients, as individuals with CLE have demonstrated a poorer quality of life than those with other common conditions affecting the skin [6] across multiple geographic populations [7]. Worse quality of life in CLE patients is associated with a number of factors including female gender, younger age, presence of facial lesions, and non-responsiveness to treatment [6, 8].…”