Quality of life in patients with sle and cutaneous involvement

Abstract

Objectives: To establish the relationship between cutaneous incolvment and Quality of Life (QoL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus Methods: Cross-sectional study of SLE patients with cutaneous incolvment, fulfilling SLICC/ACR 2012 classification criteria. Cutaneous involvement was assessed by Cutaneous Lupus Erithematosus Diasease Area and Severity Index (CLASI), disease activity – by SLEDAI and SLAM and QoL by SF-8 questionnaire. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated between the variables. Results: The study included 102 caucasian SLE female patients with a mean age of 42,4±13,3 yrs and a mean disease duration of 93,9±77,1 months. The mean age at the disease onset was 35,5±14,8 yrs and the mean SLICC/ACR criteria number - 6,1±2,8 points. The disease activity by SLEDAI and SLAM was appreciated as high with 1,24±10,4 and 12,1±8,6 points, respectively. The SLICC/ACR DI constituted 1,47±1,6 points. The cutaneous involvment by CLASI showed a mean activity of 4,7 points and a damage of 3,0 points, mean CLASI score being appreciated with 7,2 points. The QoL by SF-8 demonstrated low indices, compared to general population, in both domains: Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) with a mean value of 37,74 and 38,72 points, respectively. The analysis of Pearson coefficient between the QoL and CLASI did not show significant correlation (r=<0,2, p>0,05). The PCS og the QoL correlated inversely with the disease activity (r=-0,58 for SLAM and r=-0,45 for SLEDAI, p<0,05) and the MCS correlated inversely with SLICC/ACR classificatino criteria (r=-0,45, p<0,05). CLASI activity index correlated with SLAM and SLEDAI (r=0,45 for SLAM and r=0,37 for SLEDAI). Conclusion: The QoL is dicreased in SLE patients by both components: physical and mental. The severity of cutaneous involvment did not correlate with the QoL’s indices. Meantime, CLASI activity score correlated with disease activity and the MCP pf the QoL correlated with the number of SCLICC/ACR 2012 classification criteria.