<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><xml><records><record><source-app name="HighWire" version="7.x">Drupal-HighWire</source-app><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Loza, Estíbaliz</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Abásolo, Lydia</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jover, Juan Angel</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Carmona, Loreto</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">EPISER Study Group</style></author></authors><secondary-authors></secondary-authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Burden of disease across chronic diseases: a health survey that measured prevalence, function, and quality of life.</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The Journal of Rheumatology</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2008</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2008-01-01 00:00:00</style></date></pub-dates></dates><pages><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">159-165</style></pages><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">35</style></volume><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1</style></issue><abstract><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">OBJECTIVE: To assess health related quality of life (HRQOL) and functional ability across groups of chronic diseases in Spain. METHODS: A national health survey was conducted during 1999-2000. Participants were randomly selected from city censuses among persons aged over 20 years. All 2192 participants (response rate 73%) completed generic instruments measuring functional ability in activities of daily living [Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)] and HRQOL [Short-Form 12 (SF-12)]. Chronic diseases were defined by self-report and elicited from 2 specific questions: "Have you ever been told you have a chronic disease by a physician?" and "Are you taking any chronic medication?". Only diagnoses present for &gt; or = 3 months were included as chronic. We estimated mean HAQ and SF-12 scores for the different groups of chronic diseases. We then adjusted the scores for covariates and compared them between diseases by multiple linear regressions. RESULTS: Over half the population had at least one chronic disease [n = 1276 (58.2%)], and 22.6% had any rheumatic disease. Rheumatic diseases have an adverse effect on daily functioning [HAQ beta-coefficient 0.11 (95% CI 0.06-0.15)] and HRQOL [SF-12 physical beta-coefficient -5.78 (95% CI -6.27 to -4.28); SF-12 mental beta-coefficient -2.61 (95% CI -3.79 to -1.41)]. Thus, the influence of the rheumatic diseases is greater when their prevalence is taken into account. CONCLUSION: When the definition of burden of disease includes a measure of function and HRQOL that is weighted by disease prevalence, rheumatic diseases as a group can be ranked alongside neurological, cardiac, or pulmonary conditions as a major disease.</style></abstract></record></records></xml>