RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Impaired Health-related Quality of Life in Patients Treated for Wegener’s Granulomatosis
JF The Journal of Rheumatology
JO J Rheumatol
FD The Journal of Rheumatology
SP 2081
OP 2085
DO 10.3899/jrheum.100167
VO 37
IS 10
A1 MIKKEL FAURSCHOU
A1 LENE SIGAARD
A1 JAKOB BUE BJORNER
A1 BO BASLUND
YR 2010
UL http://www.jrheum.org/content/37/10/2081.abstract
AB Objective. To investigate whether patients with Wegener’s granulomatosis (WG) experience reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after accomplishment of remission, and to study the influence of WG-associated organ damage on HRQOL. Methods. Sixty-eight patients with inactive WG and 680 randomly selected, age- and sex-matched controls of the Danish background population completed the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36) survey for evaluation of HRQOL. Irreversible organ damage attributable to WG and/or its treatment was assessed using the Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI). Results. The median disease duration was 7.5 (range 1–26) years in the WG group, and the median total VDI score was 2.0 (range 0–7). Compared to controls, WG patients reported impaired HRQOL reflected by significantly lower SF-36 physical component summary scores (PCS) and mental component summary scores (MCS) (p < 0.001) and by significantly lower scores in 7 out of 8 SF-36 subscales (p ≤ 0.001). In the WG group, no statistically significant correlations were found between the different SF-36 scores and the total VDI score, number of organ systems affected by damage, disease duration, or number of WG relapses. Patients with organ failure or other major forms of damage did not report significantly lower HRQOL than less severely affected patients. Conclusion. WG patients experience significantly reduced HRQOL even in phases with no apparent vasculitis disease activity. Our data indicate that the level of HRQOL does not correlate well with the extent of vasculitis-associated organ damage in WG.