Impact of disease activity patterns on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of different disease activity patterns-long quiescent (LQ), chronically active (CA) and relapsing-remitting (RR)-on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: A retrospective, monocentric analysis of prospectively collected data. Adult SLE outpatients were enrolled between 2017 and 2021.For each year of follow-up, three disease activity patterns were defined: LQ if at each visit clinical Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus National Assessment-Systemic Lupus Activity Index (SELENA-SLEDAI)=0, Physician Global Assessment (PGA)=0; CA if at each visit clinical SELENA-SLEDAI >0, PGA >0; RR if patients presented active disease in at least one visit during the observation period, interspersed with periods of remission. These patterns were applied to the year and the 3 years before enrolment.At enrolment, each patient completed: Short Form 36 (SF-36), Lupus Impact Tracker, Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The correlation between disease patterns and Patient-Reported Outcomes was analysed. RESULTS: 241 SLE patients were enrolled, of which 222 had complete clinical data for the 3-year period before enrolment. Both in the year and during the 3 years before enrolment, the most frequent disease pattern was the LQ (154/241 and 122/222 patients, respectively), followed by RR (53/241 and 92/222 patients, respectively) and CA (34/241 and 8/222 patients, respectively).At baseline, fibromyalgia, organ damage, age and daily glucocorticoid dose were associated with worse HRQoL.At the multivariable analysis, after adjusting for confounding factors, patients with LQ disease during the 3 years before enrolment presented a better physical HRQoL (SF-36 physical component summary, regression coefficient=3.2, 95% CI 0.51-5.89, p=0.02) and minor depressive symptoms (HADS-D, regression coefficient=-1.17, 95% CI -2.38 to 0.0.27, p=0.055), compared with patients with CA/RR disease. CONCLUSION: A persistently quiescent disease may have a positive impact on patients' physical HRQoL and on depressive symptoms. However, this condition appears insufficient to obtain a significant improvement in mental health, fatigue and disease burden among patients with SLE.

Self-Reported Anxiety and Depression in a Monocentric Cohort of Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Analysis of Prevalence, Main Determinants, and Impact on Quality of Life.

Aims of the study: To analyze the prevalence of self-reported anxiety and depression in a monocentric cohort of patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE); to study the main determinants and the impact on quality of life (QoL). Methods: A cross-sectional observational study including adult outpatients with SLE. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed: indices of disease activity (SELENA-SLEDAI); damage (SLICC-DI); comorbidities and concomitant therapies. The definitions for remission (DORIS) and "Lupus Low Disease Activity State" (LLDAS) were applied. At enrollment, each patient completed the following questionnaires: SF-36, FACIT-Fatigue, Lupus Impact Tracker (LIT), Systemic Lupus Activity Questionnaire (SLAQ), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in order to self-assess anxiety and depression symptoms. The Student t-test and Chi2 tests were conducted for univariate analysis. The Spearman test was used for linear correlation between continuous data. Multivariate analysis was performed by multiple linear and logistic regression. Results: One hundred fifty-four consecutive patients with SLE were enrolled, the majority female and Caucasian with a mean age = 43.3 ± 13.7 years. 79.9% were in LLDAS or remission. 36.4% had a SDI > 1. 13.7% of patients had concomitant fibromyalgia. 37.4% had symptoms indicating anxiety and 25% of depression according to the HADS questionnaire. In the multivariate analysis, patients with active disease were significantly more anxious and depressed (p < 0.01) compared to patients in LLDAS or remission. Fibromyalgia and older age were independently associated with anxiety and depression, respectively (p < 0.05). Active skin involvement was significantly linked to depression (p < 0.05). Higher scores on the HADS questionnaire (higher levels of anxiety and depression) were found to be significantly linked to patients' perception of higher disease activity and worse quality of life, irrespective of disease activity, age and fibromyalgia. Conclusion: Symptoms of anxiety and depression are frequent in SLE patients, including outpatients with mild/moderate disease. Such symptoms have a significant negative impact on QoL and perception of disease activity, regardless of other factors. Moreover, disease activity, advanced age and fibromyalgia appear to be significantly linked to mood disorders. Assessing symptoms of the anxious-depressive spectrum in patients with SLE could lead to improvement in patients' perception of health status and quality of life.

Articular involvement, steroid treatment and fibromyalgia are the main determinants of patient-physician discordance in systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: Remission or the lowest possible disease activity is the main target in the management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Anyway, conflicting data are present in the literature regarding the correlation between physician-driven definitions and patient perception of the disease. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the definition of lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) and patient's health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, monocentric study. Adult SLE patients were included. For each patient, demographics, disease duration, medications, comorbidities, organ damage, active disease manifestations and SELENA-SLEDAI were assessed. Patients have been categorised as follows: LLDAS, remission and active disease. Each patient completed the following patient-reported outcomes (PROs): SF-36, LIT, FACIT-Fatigue and SLAQ. A SLAQ score < 6 (25° percentile of our cohort) was used as the cut-off value to define a low disease activity state according to patient self-evaluation. RESULTS: We enrolled 259 consecutive SLE patients (mainly female and Caucasian, mean age 45.33 ± 13.14 years, median disease duration 14 years). 80.3% were in LLDAS, of whom 82.2% were in remission; 19.7% were active. No differences emerged for any of the PROs used between the LLDAS and the active group. Considering the LLDAS subgroup, we identified 56 patients with a subjective low disease activity (SLAQ < 6) and we defined them as "concordant"; the remaining 152 patients in LLDAS presented a subjective active disease (SLAQ ≥ 6) and were defined "discordant". Discordant patients presented more frequently ongoing and past joint involvement (p < 0.05) and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia (p < 0.01); furthermore, they were more likely to be on glucocorticoid therapy (p < 0.01). Discordant patients showed a significantly poorer HRQoL, assessed by all PROs (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Joint involvement, glucocorticoid therapy and comorbid fibromyalgia resulted to be the most important variables determining the poor concordance between patient and physician perspective on the disease.

Impact of fatigue on health-related quality of life and illness perception in a monocentric cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a very common and debilitating symptom in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), even among those with a mild or inactive disease. The objective of this study is to define fatigue determinants and describe the impact of fatigue on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and illness perception in a monocentric cohort of patients with SLE. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. Adult patients with SLE were included. For each patient, demographics, medications, comorbidities, organ damage (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Damage Index), active disease manifestations and Systemic Lupus Disease Activity Index scores were collected. It was evaluated if each patient met the definitions of remission and low disease activity. At enrolment, each patient completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36), Functional Assessment Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F), Lupus Impact Tracker (LIT), Systemic Lupus Activity Questionnaire (SLAQ) and Brief Index of Lupus Damage (BILD). The FACIT-F questionnaire was also administered to a group of healthy controls. RESULTS: 223 patients were included (mean age 44.9±13.2 years, median disease duration 13 years). 18.2% had an active disease, 43.5% met the definition of remission on treatment, and 11.8% had a concomitant fibromyalgia. The median FACIT-F score of our cohort was significantly lower compared with that of healthy controls (40 vs 47; p<0.001). FACIT-F scores were irrespective of age, disease duration, disease activity and damage. FACIT-F score was significantly lower in patients with fibromyalgia (p<0.01). FACIT-F scores demonstrated a significant correlation with all other patient-reported outcomes: SF-36 (r=0.53-0.77), LIT (r=-0.78), SLAQ (r=-0.72) and BILD (r=-0.28). CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue in patients with SLE has a strong negative impact on HRQoL and patient perception of the disease burden. Fatigue seems irrespective of disease activity but significantly influenced by the presence of fibromyalgia.

Imaging of joints in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Musculoskeletal symptoms are among the most common manifestations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), being reported in up to 95% of patients; joint and tendon involvement can range from arthralgia to severe deforming arthropathy; while myositis a rare manifestation, comorbid fibromyalgia is reported in up to 40% of SLE patients. All these manifestations have a significant impact on the patients' quality of life, possibly leading to disability and functional impairment in daily living activities. In recent years, thanks to the availability of new imaging techniques for the assessment of tendon and joint pathologies, the approach to the definition and characterisation of these manifestations in SLE is constantly evolving. In this review we will therefore illustrate the state of the art of imaging techniques in the assessment of joint involvement in SLE, focusing on ultrasounds (US) and magnetic resonance (MRI), discussing their advantages, drawbacks and possible future developments. The main findings that emerge from the recent literature is that imaging studies may allow a more accurate definition of disease subtypes revealing an unexpected higher prevalence of joint and tendon involvement with respect to what known by clinical evaluation and standard radiography. Indeed, US and MRI also made possible the identification of joints and tendons pathologies in patients with no or very mild clinical symptoms. On the other hand, the interpretation of some findings remains uncertain, as well as the validity and feasibility of this analysis in clinical practice. Thus, further studies should clarify the clinical meaning of subclinical abnormalities detected in US and MRI scans and their impact on the long-term outcomes.