Factors influencing quality of life in people with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective: To identify an association between quality of life and clinical manifestations and symptoms of depression in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods: This is a quantitative study conducted with 141 individuals with lupus under follow-up at the rheumatology outpatient clinic of a university hospital. Data were collected through interviews using the WHOQOL-bref, the Cognitive Depression Scale and a sociodemographic characterization questionnaire. For analysis, data were entered in a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel (R) and analyzed in Statistical Analysis Software, using Odds Ratio to measure risk estimation and adjustments of binary logistic regression models for each of the covariates of interest. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Positive and negative predictive values were calculated for the diagnostic variables that presented statistical significance. Results: Of the 141 participants, 135 (95.7%) were female, 81 (57.9%) were over 40 years old and in 89 (63.1%) lupus had been diagnosed for more than five years. The presence of some clinical manifestations related to exacerbation of the disease increases the chances of an unsatisfactory perceived quality of life in all WHOQOL-bref domains, and the highest number of manifestations associated with unsatisfactory perceived quality of life was observed in the physical health domain, followed by the psychological health domain. The presence of symptoms of depression was also associated with unsatisfactory perception in all WHOQOL-bref domains. Conclusion: The clinical manifestations that characterize the activity of the disease, as well as the presence of complications, increase the chances of an unsatisfactory perceived quality of life and this, in turn, increases the chances of individuals presenting depressive symptoms.