RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 The LupusQoL and Associations with Demographics and Clinical Measurements in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus JF The Journal of Rheumatology JO J Rheumatol FD The Journal of Rheumatology SP 2273 OP 2279 DO 10.3899/jrheum.091277 VO 37 IS 11 A1 KATHLEEN McELHONE A1 MADHURA CASTELINO A1 JANICE ABBOTT A1 IAN N. BRUCE A1 YASMEEN AHMAD A1 JOANNA SHELMERDINE A1 KATE PEERS A1 DAVID ISENBERG A1 ADA FERENKEH-KOROMA A1 BRIDGET GRIFFITHS A1 MOHAMMED AKIL A1 PETER MADDISON A1 CAROLINE GORDON A1 LEE-SUAN TEH YR 2010 UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/37/11/2273.abstract AB Objective. Having developed and validated a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the LupusQoL, we determined its relationship to demographic and clinical measurements in a group of patients with SLE. Methods. A group of 322 outpatients completed the LupusQoL. Demographic (age, sex, marital status, ethnicity) and clinical variables (disease duration, disease activity, damage) were recorded. Associations between the 8 LupusQoL domains and age, disease duration, disease activity, and damage were explored using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Differences in LupusQoL scores were examined for sex and marital status using the Mann-Whitney U test. Ethnic groups were compared using ANOVA. Results. All domains of LupusQoL were impaired, with fatigue (56.3) being the worst affected and body image (80.0) the least. The correlations between the LupusQoL domain scores and age (r = −0.01 to −0.22) and disease duration (r = 0 to 0.16) were absent or weak. Similarly, there were no significant differences in the LupusQoL scores regarding sex, marital status, or the 3 main ethnic groups (Black-Caribbean, Asian, White). Although there were statistically significant correlations between the scores of the LupusQoL domains and some scores of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group index (r = −0.22 to 0.09) and the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (r = −0.29 to 0.21), these were weak. Conclusion. HRQOL was impaired in this cohort of outpatients with SLE as assessed by the validated lupus-specific LupusQoL. There were no clinically important associations between the 8 domains of the LupusQoL and clinical or demographic variables in this group of patients. Thus, the LupusQoL is a relatively independent outcome measure in patients with SLE.