Lupus Disease Activity Correlates With Quality Of Life But Not With Health Literacy Status

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that can affect any organ of the body. SLE is associated with adverse effects on both health and non-health-related quality of life (HRQOL and non-HRQOL). Lupus PRO is a patient reported outcome measure that has been validated in many languages. It has 44 items that cover both HRQOL and non-HRQOL (1). Health literacy is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Multiple studies indicate that people with limited health literacy have worse health status and higher rates of hospitalization (2). Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the LLDAS (Lupus Low Disease Activity State) criteria and the Lupus PRO test, as well as the health literacy status of lupus patients. Methods: 83 SLE patients (94% women) were included in the study. We performed Lupus PRO and the European Health Literacy Survey tests during the routine follow-up visits of lupus patients to our rheumatology outpatient clinic and admissions to rheumatology inpatient clinic. Available clinical data on medical records were obtained, physician global assessments (PGA) were recorded by the attending physician. Results: LLDAS criteria strongly and inversely correlated with the total score, as well as the mood subunit of the Lupus PRO. Similarly, it also significantly inversely correlated with the body appearence and goals subunits. Health literacy status of the patients did not correlate with their LLDAS scores, ie their disease activities. Conclusion: Our results suggest that lupus disease activity, assessed by LLDAS criteria, significantly correlates with measures of quality of life, spesicifically Lupus PRO test, but not with health literacy status. Further studies are needed to evaluate if health literacy is related with damage, hospitalization or mortality associated with lupus. References: [1]Jolly M, Pickard AS, Block JA, Kumar RB, Mikolaitis RA, Wilke CT, et al., editors. Disease-specific patient reported outcome tools for systemic lupus erythematosus. Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism; 2012: Elsevier. [2]Paasche-Orlow MK, Parker RM, Gazmararian JA, Nielsen-Bohlman LT, Rudd RR. The prevalence of limited health literacy. Journal of general internal medicine. 2005;20(2):175-84. Disclosure of Interests: None declared