title: Assessment of work limitations and disability in systemic vasculitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Despite advances in the management of systemic vasculitis (SV), direct consequences of the disease, leading to impairments in physical and mental function can cause disability. The objective of this study was to assess work limitations in SV.
  
  
  METHODS
  SV patients were recruited from a tertiary care clinic. Work disabled (WD) was defined as not working, early retirement, or reduced hours at work. Participants who were working at the time of enrolment completed the Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ). Other work-related measures were self-reported by questionnaire. Disease outcome measures (Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI), Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ) and pain visual analogue score (VAS)) were obtained at time of WLQ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  103 participants were enrolled with mean age 58 (SD17), 60% females, 48% with anti-neutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV), 26% with large vessel vasculitis (LVV) and 26% with other types of SV. 22 (21%) were WD secondary to SV, 29 (28%) were working and 52 (51%) subjects were not working for reasons other than SV. SV-related WD subjects were more likely to have a lower level of education (p=0.003) than non-WD subjects. The VDI was higher in SV-related WD vs. non-WD subjects: 1.9 (SD 2.7) vs. 2.9 (SD 1.4); p=0.015. 38 subjects were working in some capacity and completed the WLQ; their productivity loss was 8.2% and this was highly correlated with HAQ and pain VAS (rho=0.585 and rho=0.458, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SV-related work disability occurred in 21% and was associated with lower levels of education, higher disease severity and worse functional outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada. lbarra2@uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Lillian J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Barra
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Emma A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Bateman
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rohekar
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pagnoux
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Manoosh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moradizadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004526:Efficiency; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056647:Systemic Vasculitis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation