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. 2025 Jun 1;31(4):162-165.
doi: 10.1097/RHU.0000000000002204. Epub 2025 Feb 3.

The Lupus Foundation of America Rapid Evaluation of Activity in Lupus Patient-Reported Outcome Predicts Health-Related Quality of Life, Fatigue, and Work Productivity Impairment: Data From the Almenara Lupus Cohort

Manuel F Ugarte-Gil, Rocío V Gamboa-Cárdenas, Victor R Pimentel-Quiroz, Cristina Reátegui-Sokolova, Claudia Elera-Fitzcarrald, Samira García-Hirsh, César Pastor-Asurza, Zoila Rodriguez-Bellido, Risto Perich-Campos, Graciela S Alarcón

The Lupus Foundation of America Rapid Evaluation of Activity in Lupus Patient-Reported Outcome Predicts Health-Related Quality of Life, Fatigue, and Work Productivity Impairment: Data From the Almenara Lupus Cohort

Manuel F Ugarte-Gil et al. J Clin Rheumatol. .

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to evaluate the impact of patient-reported disease activity in other patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.

Methods: SLE patients from the Almenara Lupus Cohort were included, and visits were performed every 6 months. Disease activity was assessed with the Lupus Foundation of America Rapid Evaluation of Activity in Lupus (LFA-REAL) PRO, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the LupusQoL, fatigue with the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F), and work productivity impairment with the work productivity and activity impairment (WPAI). Generalized estimating equations were performed for each domain of the LupusQoL, the FACIT-F, and the WPAI. The LFA-REAL PRO measured at the previous visit; multivariable models were adjusted for possible confounders measured at the same visit as the LFA-REAL PRO. The Β (regression unstandardized coefficient) is reported per an increase of 10 units of the LFA-REAL PRO.

Results: A total of 316 patients and 1116 visits were included. Mean (SD) LFA-REAL PRO at baseline was 240.9 (182.1). LFA-REAL PRO predicted a worse HRQoL in all domains of the LupusQoL, the WPAI, and the FACIT-F, even after adjustment for confounders.

Conclusions: A higher patient-reported disease activity predicted a worse HRQoL and fatigue as well as a higher work productivity impairment in SLE patients. Patient-reported disease activity should be included in the evaluation of SLE patients on a regular basis as such provides the patients' own perception of their disease. This may have an impact on their adherence to treatment and may result in better outcomes.

Keywords: disease activity; fatigue; health-related quality of life; patient-reported outcome; systemic lupus erythematosus; work productivity impairment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: M.F.U.-G. has grant support from Janssen, has been speaker for GSK and AstraZeneca, has been member of the advisory boards for AstraZeneca and Ferrer, and has been consultant of Tecnofarma; C.R.-S. and V.R.P.-Q. have grant support from Janssen. S.G.-H. is speaker and medical advisor of Advium. All other authors declare to have no conflicts of interest. These analyses were done as a part of the 2018 H. Ralph Schumacher MD/PANLAR/JCR Award. Additionally, the Almenara Lupus Cohort has been partially supported by Institutional grants from EsSalud (1483-GCGP-ESSALUD-2013, 1733-GCGP-ESSALUD-2014), from the 2015 Kaelin Prize (04-IETSI-ESALUD-2016), from the Pan American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR) (2015 PANLAR Prize), and from the Fundación Instituto Hipólito Unanue and from Janssen.

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