Quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Introduction: Quality of life seeks to encompass in a single concept the situation of an individual and their relationship with the environment in which they live, in addition to the socio-environmental interactions that influence their expectations, standards and projections. That is why it has led to the creation of surveys that seek to simplify unanimously satisfaction of people with their environment, the SF 36 being one used for this work, focused mainly on patients diagnosed with SLE and registered in the database of the cohort LUPUS PY. Objective: To determine the quality of life of patients diagnosed with SLE that are part of the database of the cohort LUPUS PY 2013-2014. Identify the correlation between disease activity evaluated by the SLEDAI, functional disability by HAQ and quality of life measured by the SF36. Methods: Analytical observational cross section study, including SLE patients from the LUPUS PY cohort who have completed specific questionnaires on disease activity (i.e. SLEDAI) disability (i.e. HAQ) and quality of life (i.e. SF36 ie their 8 members) between 2013-2014. Results: 57 patients were included, 89 % were women, the mean age of the cohort and age of entry to the cohort was 28.98 ± 10.94 years and 35.77 ± 11.44 years, respectively. The mean time from SLE diagnosis was 5.72 ± 6.20 years, 80.7 % of patients came from the Central Department and 36.84 % of patients had a higher education level. Family monthly average income was 2.456.521 ± 1.319.705 Gs. The mean SLEDAI score value was 2.83 ± 2.32. The media of the abbreviated SF36 components were 45.18 for the Abbreviated physical component (APC) and 47.71 for the mental component (AMC). No association and statistically significant correlation between the values of the APC and the AMC and the qualitative and quantitative variables analyzed were observed. In respect of the analysis between APC and AMC values and HAQ scores (disability) and SLEDAI (activity), a statistically significant negative correlation with the values of these scores and APC values were observed; with no significant correlation with the value of the AMC. Regarding the Score of SLICC (damage), a statistically significant negative correlation between the values of this score and the AMC was observed. Conclusion: This study found that the quality of life as measured by the SF36 for both their physical and mental component, is affected in patients with SLE. In addition, an association between disease activity, functional disability and damage to the quality of life in both the physical and mental component of patients was observed.