Assessment of the quality of life of Egyptian and Tunisian autoimmune bullous diseases' patients using an Arabic version of the autoimmune bullous disease quality of life and the treatment of autoimmune bullous disease quality of life questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life (ABQOL) and the Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life (TABQOL) questionnaires proved to be reliable tools that measure the disease and treatment burden. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the ABQOL and TABQOL in the Arabic population. METHODS: The English questionnaires were translated into the Arabic language by a certified translation agency. Eighty autoimmune bullous disease (AIBD) patients were included in this study. Patients were asked to answer 2 questionnaires. After 1 week the same patients were asked to answer the same questionnaires again. RESULTS: The age of the patients ranged from 19 to 81 years (mean=46), 19 males, 61 females. The ABQOL ranged from 0-37 (mean=16.4 +/- 9.2). The TABQOL ranged from 2-43 (mean=21.5 +/- 9.4). Test-retest reliability was acceptable, Cronbach's alpha was 0.76 for ABQOL and 0.74 for TABQOL. There was no significant correlation between the age of the patients and ABQOL, r =-0.2, p value was 0.183. There was a significant negative correlation between the age of the patients and the TABQOL, r=-0.2, p value was 0.039. There was a significant negative correlation between the education of the patients and the TABQOL, r=-0.3, p value was 0.007. STUDY LIMITATIONS: Small sample size of some AIBDs and patients with severe disease. CONCLUSION: Objective and valuable measurements such as ABQOL and TABQOL are now available to help physicians understand their patient's distress and should be used in every patient with AIBD. Younger and less educated patients appear to have more effects on their QOL from the treatments.