[Are there associations of health status, disease activity and damage in SLE patients?---Results of a study of a cohort of a Swiss specialized outpatient clinic].
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between self assessed health status of patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), lupus activity, damage, patients' age and disease duration in a cohort of a Swiss specialized outpatient clinic.


METHODS
A cross sectional study of 38 patients fulfilling the classification criteria for SLE. The patients visited a rheumatology outpatient clinic in Switzerland between January 2002 and December 2004. The last assessment during this period was used for the study. The assessment included, besides demographic data, the measurement of disease activity using the BILAG index, the measurement of disease damage using the SLICC/ACR damage index (SDI), as well as the patient's self assessed health status using the patient's questionnaire Medical Outcome Survey Short Form 36 (SF-36).


RESULTS
A total of 36 women and 2 men were included in the study (median age: 43 yrs, median disease duration: 11 yrs). Increased disease activity (total BILAG) was shown to be significantly correlated with reduced physical function. A greater damage (total SDI) correlated significantly with reduced role function due to emotional limitations. Neither age nor disease duration showed any significant correlation with health status in this study.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study, which is based on internationally accepted assessment tools for SLE patients, shows a significant relationship between increased disease activity and reduced physical function. This result emphasizes the importance of optimizing treatment aiming at reducing disease activity.
Marx
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C
Psychiatrische Poliklinik, Universitätsspital Zürich.
Mörgeli
H P
HP
Büchi
S
S
Stoll
T
T
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013557:Switzerland