The relationship between disease activity and quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus

To determine the quality of life (QOL) in SLE patients and correlate it with disease activity.

Lupus patients fulfilling the ACR 1997 criteria for SLE were included in this cross-sectional study. Patients were administered the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) to assess their quality of life. Disease activity was measured using Mexican Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (Mex-SLEDAI).

The study group comprised 73 lupus patients (70 females and three males) with mean age 35.22 +/- 11.15 yr and mean disease duration 5.62 +/- 5.14 yr. Mean Mex-SLEDAI score was 3.31 +/- 3.19. Higher disease activity scores were associated with lower QOL scores in the physical (P = 0.001) and psychological domains (P = 0.01) but showed no significant correlation with the domains of social and environmental QOL. Patients with clearly active and probably active disease showed significantly lower scores in the physical (P = 0.01) and psychological (P = 0.02) domains than patients with inactive disease. However, no significant difference was found in the domains of social and environmental QOL. Age or disease duration did not affect the QOL in any of the domains.

Physical and psychological QOL are impaired to a larger extent in active lupus. However, social and environmental QOL do not correlate with the disease activity status in lupus patients.