The impact of systemic lupus erythematosus on health-related quality of life assessed using the SF-36: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To identify the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) domains compared with the results of healthy controls by systematically reviewing the literature. A systematic literature search was performed on MEDLINE, Web of Science and EMBASE until April, 2018 to obtain eligible studies reporting mean and standard deviation scores for each domain of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) in SLE patients and healthy controls. Random effect model was performed to summarize the scores of each domain. The forest plot was used to compare the scores of SLE patients with healthy controls. Review Manager (version 5.3) was adopted in the meta-analysis. In all, 13 studies were included in the work, including 1279 SLE patients and 1466 healthy controls. Compared with controls, patients with SLE had lower scores in all SF-36 dimensions (physical function, physical role function, body pain, general health, vitality, social function, emotional role function, mental health), especially in the physical role function. SLE does impair HRQoL to varying degrees. It is indispensable to measure and assess HRQoL of SLE patients regularly, which contributes to formulate targeted interventions appropriately and provide effective ways of management of the disease positively.