FIBROMYALGIA IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN LUPUS

Objective. To determine whether individual variables of the Systemic L upus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and Systemic Lupus International Coordinating Committee/American College of Rheumatology (SLICC/ACR) Damage Index were associated with any of the domains of th e Short Form 36 (SF-36) quality of life measure, and to assess the con tribution of fibromyalgia (FM) to the quality oflife measure. Methods. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) seen between Decembe r 1994 and May 1995 completed SF-36 questionnaires at the time of thei r clinical evaluations at the Lupus Clinic. Disease activity was measu red by SLEDAI, damage was assessed by the SLICC/ACR Damage Index, and FM was diagnosed in the presence of widespread pain and greater than o r equal to 11 of 18 FM tender points, The components of SLEDAI and the Damage Index were compared to the domains of the SF-36 using Pearson correlation coefficients, At test was used to compare the variables in patients with and without FM. Results. One hundred nineteen patients with SLE participated in the study. Presence of FM, which occurred in 21% of the patients, was not related to either the overall scores or a ny of the components of SLEDAI or Damage Index, but was highly correla ted with all 8 domains of the SF-36, The correlations ranged from -0.2 6 to -0.43, with associated p values of 0.007 to 0.0001, Conclusion. I n a cross sectional study of patients with SLE at one point in time th e SF-36 reflected the presence of FM rather than disease activity or d amage.