Health-related quality of life in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome and xerostomia: a comparative study.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the health status of groups of Primary Sjögren's and Xerostomia patients, using the Medical Outcomes Short Form 36 (SF-36). The SF-36 is a generic measure, divided into eight domains, used in the assessment of health-related quality of life.


METHODS
The SF-36 was given to 2 groups: Group 1 comprised 43 patients diagnosed with Primary Sjögren's Syndrome (1 degrees SS) and an unstimulated whole salivary flow rate (UFR) of <0.1 ml/min). Group 2 (n = 40) reported Xerostomia but had an UFR >0.2 ml/min. Sub groups of patients in Groups 1 and 2 were compared with community normative data, for the SF-36.


RESULTS
There were trends to suggest lower SF36 scores for 1 degrees SS patients but there were no significant differences between the mean domain scores of Groups 1 and 2. 1 degrees SS and Xerostomia patients registered lower mean scores across all 8 domains, compared with normative community data.


CONCLUSIONS
The SF-36 was unable to detect significant differences between subjects with 1 degrees SS and Xerostomia but a larger sample size is required to confirm these findings. The results of this limited study suggest that a disease-specific measure is required to assess the impact 1 degrees SS on health-related Quality of life (QOL).
Rostron
Jocelyne
J
Sjögen's Syndrome Research Group, Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, The University of Liverpool.
Rogers
Simon
S
Longman
Lesley
L
Kaney
Sue
S
Field
E Anne
EA
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012636:Secretory Rate / Q000502:physiology; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*