Health related quality of life in Mexican women with systemic lupus erythematosus: a descriptive study using SF-36 and LupusQoL©

Abstract

The LupusQoL© questionnaire is a disease-specific health related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument for adults with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The Short Form-36 (SF-36) is a generic instrument that captures the physical, psychological, and social impact. We conducted a descriptive study of women aged ≥ 18 years attending our Lupus Clinic. HRQOL was assessed by applying the LupusQoL© and SF-36. Lupus activity was measured using the Mexican Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (Mex-SLEDAI) and chronic damage using the Systemic Lupus Collaborative Clinics Damage Index (SDI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient. A total of 127 patients were included with a mean age of 40.5 ± 12.6 years. The mean disease duration was 8.2 ± 5.6 years, the mean disease activity score was 2.4 ± 3.0, and the mean SDI score 0.77 ± 1.06. The mean SF-36 score was 58.1 ± 21.1 and the mean LupusQoL© score was 69 ± 22.7. The correlation between global scores of the SF-36 and LupusQoL© was rho = 0.73 (p < 0.001). The correlation between lupus disease activity and the SF-36 and the LupusQoL© was -0.26 (p = 0.003) and -0.25 (p = 0.004), respectively. The correlation between the SDI and the SF-36 and the LupusQoL© was -0.28 (p = 0.001) and -0.38 (p < 0.0001), respectively. In conclusions: both LupusQoL© and SF-36 were useful instruments in assessing HRQOL in Mexican lupus female patients. The usefulness of the LupusQoL© should be evaluated in lupus patients with moderate to severe disease activity.

Health-related quality of life assessed by LupusQoL questionnaire and SF-36 in Turkish patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…All domains of LupusQoL-TR and SF-36 were low and consistent with impaired QoL, especially burden to others, intimate relationships, and fatigue in the LupusQoL-TR. In our study, the most impaired domain in LupusQoL-TR was burden to others, similar to the results of Garcia et al [14]. A study by McElhone et al likewise indicated that fatigue, physical health, and burden to others were the most impaired domains.…”

“…We found decreased HRQoL in our cohort of patients with lupus who were assessed using both questionnaires, similar to previous studies [4,22,23]. We observed that the comparable domains of both questionnaires correlated well and each noncomparable domain of the LupusQoL-TR was correlated with both PCS and MCS, which was also in line with previous studies [8,13,14]. LupusQoL and SF-36 were shown to be equivalent in assessing HRQoL over time in patients with SLE [13].…”

“…Therefore, our results may not be valid for patients with moderate to high disease activity. Jolly M et al reported lower LupusQoL scores and higher SLEDAI scores than Garcia et al Garcia et al suggested that the difference in the LupusQoL scores was due to higher SLEDAI scores (SLEDAI-2 K score was 4) in the cohort of Jolly M et al [14,32].…”

“…The questionnaire is patient derived, contains unique items, and provides a profile of patients' HRQoL, all of which distinguish it from existing lupus-specific measures [8]. There are studies in the literature that examine the correlation of LupusQoL with disease activity and the sensitivity of the questionnaire in determining disease activity changes (responsiveness) [13,14]. McElhone et al showed that LupusQoL provides additional information to the clinical indices of activity and damage [15].…”

Factors Associated with Health-Related Quality of Life in Mexican Lupus Patients Using the LupusQol

“…Misperceptions of the disease and mood disorders caused by poor quality of life in SLE patients worsen the prognosis and treatment adherence [11]. Therefore, assessment of the health status in SLE patients should include lupus disease activity, damage and HRQOL [12, 13, 14]. …”