QUALITY OF LIFE IN SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS PATIENTS IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL: IS HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE A PREDICTOR OF SURVIVAL FOR THESE PATIENTS?

• Autor(a) principal: Freire, Eutilia Andrade Medeiros [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Bruscato, Adriana, Ciconelli, Rozana Mesquita [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://www.actareumatologica.pt/article_download.php?id=415; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/42084
• topic: Lupus; Predictor; Health-related Quality of Life; Survival; SF-36

Objective: To identify social, demographic and clinical characteristics that influence survival of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods: Sixty-three patients with a diagnosis of SLE were studied at our medical services in 1999 and then reviewed in 2005. We utilized a protocol to obtain demographic and clinical traits, activity and damage indices, and health-related quality of life via the SF-36. All statistical tests were performed using a significance level of 5%.Results: Out of the 63 patients examined in 1999, six died, four were lost for the follow-up and the previous protocol was applied to the remaining 53 patients. The six patients who died presented the worst recorded health-related quality of fife, in all aspects. The most important observed predictor of death was a mean lower score in the Role-Emotional Domain of the mental health component of the SF-36 (p<0.01).Conclusion: Health-related quality of life may be used as possible predictive factor of mortality among patients with SLE.