Quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus: A controlled study

Objective, To assess the quality of life (QOL) of patients with systemic lu pus erythematosus (SLE) and to compare it with that of healthy women and pa tients with primary fibromyalgia (FM). Methods. QOL was evaluated using the QOL scale, which includes 16 items, ea ch scored on a 7 point scale. Healthy controls were chosen from hospital pe rsonnel. Results, The study population comprised 75 female patients with SLE, 50 hea lthy women, and 30 women with primary FM. Compared to controls, patients wi th SLE had significantly lower scores For the health, work, active recreati on, and independence items. The QOL scores were not associated with disease activity. Patients with SLE and FR I had significantly lower scores for th e health related items compared with patients with SLE without FM. Conclusion, The QOL of patients with SLE was found to he impaired compared with controls. FM adversely affects the QOL of patients with SLE.