Validation of a disease-specific health-related quality of life measure in adult Italian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: LupusQoL-IT

• Published in: Lupus 2014-07, Vol.23 (8), p.743-751
• Main Authors: Conti, F, Perricone, C, Reboldi, G, Gawlicki, M, Bartosiewicz, I, Pacucci, VA, Massaro, L, Miranda, F, Truglia, S, Alessandri, C, Spinelli, FR, Teh, L-S, Ceccarelli, F, Valesini, G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anticoagulants; Chronic illnesses; Disease; Female; Humans; Italy; Lupus; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - diagnosis; Male; Medical prognosis; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Rheumatology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Validity
• ISSN: 0961-2033; 1477-0962
• DOI: 10.1177/0961203314524466

Objective The objective of this paper is to assess the validity of a linguistically validated version of the Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL©) in Italian patients affected by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Consecutive SLE patients completed the Italian version of the LupusQoL© and the Short Form (SF)-36. Disease activity was evaluated by the SLE disease activity Index-2000 (SLEDAI-2 K), and chronic damage by the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index score (SDI). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity were examined. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed. Results A total of 117 Italian SLE patients (M:F 13:104; mean age 40.6 ± 11.6 years, mean disease duration 127.5 ± 94.1 months) were recruited into the study. The Italian version of the LupusQoL© demonstrated substantial evidence of convergent validity in these patients when compared with equivalent items of the SF-36. In addition, the LupusQoL© discriminated between patients with different degrees of disease activity as measured by the SLEDAI-2 K. SLE patients with higher disease activity (SLEDAI-2K ≥4) showed poor QoL compared with those with lower disease activity (SLEDAI-2K