Article Text
Abstract
Background Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is considerably compromised in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) patients. Symptoms and disease activity are different components of the disease, but they are not necessarily associated and both might affect quality of life.
Objectives To investigate the impact of pSS's symptoms and disease activity on HRQOL in patients with pSS.
Methods In a case-control study, 77 pSS (AECG) patients were evaluated through the questionnaires Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Fatigue Subscale (FACIT-Fatigue), EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Patient Reported Index (ESSPRI), EULAR Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI), Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment - Abbreviated Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Seventy seven healthy controls answered SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF. Mann-Whitney, t-test and Spearman's correlation were used for statistical analysis.
Results pSS patients and healthy controls were matched for age [52.3 (±9.03) and 52.2 (±8.91), respectively] and sex (all women). Patients had lower employment rate (36.4% vs 62.3%, p=0.00) and higher work disability (10.4% vs 1.3%; p=0.04). The mean scores of ESSDAI, ESSPRI and FACIT-fatigue were 3.34 (±4.61), 6.58 (±2.29) and 26.17 (±11.02), respectively. SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF scores were significantly lower in patients with pSS (p<0.001) except WHOQOL-BREF Environment domain (p<0.07). There was no correlation between disease activity and HRQOL. FACIT-fatigue and ESSPRI total showed significant correlation with all domains of SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF, while ESSPRI pain domain showed the highest correlations (table 1).
Conclusions Fatigue, dryness and mainly pain, but not disease activity, are associated with low quality of life in pSS patients. These findings suggest that management strategies to reduce symptoms, especially pain are important to improve quality of life in pSS.
Disclosure of Interest None declared