title: Quality of life and functional disability in patients with interstitial lung disease related to Systemic Sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a connective disease impairing respiratory function. SSc worsens patients' Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ-DI), Short Form 36 Physical and Mental Component Summary (SF36-PCS and SF36-MCS). The aim of this work is to verify whether there is correlation between quality of life and lung interstitiopathy in SSc patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  SF36 and HAQ-DI were given to each patient (48 in all). Lung involvement was evaluated with Baseline Dyspnea Index (BDI), spirometry and pulmonary fibrosis radiological assessment (PFRA). Correlations between SF36, HAQ-DI and lung involvement severity were investigated with Spearman's rank test. A p-value&lt;0.05 was considered statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SF36-PCS and SF36-MCS correlate with BDI (respectively rho=0.553 p=0.0001; rho=0.357 p=0.0150). The best correlating SF36 subsets are Physical Role (rho =0.566 p&lt;0.0001) and Bodily Pain (rho=0.444 p=0.0020). BDI correlates with HAQ-DI (rho=-0.655 p&lt;0.0001). No statistically significant correlation was found between SF36, HAQ-DI and spirometrical values nor PFRA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SSc patients enrolled have an impaired quality of life as widely demonstrated in literature. Quality of life reduction and functional ability decrease are only related to respiratory subjective impairment (assessed by BDI). Actually no correlation with objective lung damage (assessed by spirometry and PFRA) was detected.
authors.affiliation: Medicine Department, Internal Medicine and Rheumatology Unit, University Hospital, Parma, Italy. dott.alaricoariani@libero.it.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lumetti
authors.forename: Lissette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alfieri
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Valter
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Delsante
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sverzellati
authors.forename: Alarico
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ariani
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires