Impaired health-related quality of life in patients treated for Wegener's granulomatosis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) experience reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after accomplishment of remission, and to study the influence of WG-associated organ damage on HRQOL.


METHODS
Sixty-eight patients with inactive WG and 680 randomly selected, age- and sex-matched controls of the Danish background population completed the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36) survey for evaluation of HRQOL. Irreversible organ damage attributable to WG and/or its treatment was assessed using the Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI).


RESULTS
The median disease duration was 7.5 (range 1-26) years in the WG group, and the median total VDI score was 2.0 (range 0-7). Compared to controls, WG patients reported impaired HRQOL reflected by significantly lower SF-36 physical component summary scores (PCS) and mental component summary scores (MCS) (p < 0.001) and by significantly lower scores in 7 out of 8 SF-36 subscales (p ≤ 0.001). In the WG group, no statistically significant correlations were found between the different SF-36 scores and the total VDI score, number of organ systems affected by damage, disease duration, or number of WG relapses. Patients with organ failure or other major forms of damage did not report significantly lower HRQOL than less severely affected patients.


CONCLUSIONS
WG patients experience significantly reduced HRQOL even in phases with no apparent vasculitis disease activity. Our data indicate that the level of HRQOL does not correlate well with the extent of vasculitis-associated organ damage in WG.
Faurschou
Mikkel
M
Department of Rheumatology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sigaard
Lene
L
Bjorner
Jakob Bue
JB
Baslund
Bo
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D014890:Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult