THU0168 Correlation between sf36 and indices of outcome in 121 rheumatoid arthritis (ra) patients

Abstract

Background The SF36 is a generic 36 items questionnaire which measures eight dimensions of health status, and permit to make direct comparisons with other disease states or with population norms. SF36 reflects a combination of physical and mental function, and well-being, the extent of social and role disability, and patients personal evaluation of health status. It has been used in several countries and its contents and construct validity, test retest reliability and responsiveness have also been reported. Objectives to evaluate the health related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through SF36, and to correlate the results with ACR core set activity index and with mHAQ disability index. Methods The study included 121 consecutive patients affected by RA attending the “Hospital de Clinicas”, mean age 50(18-84) years, mean disease duration 91(3-480) months, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)34.71(8-105) mm/h, and mean mHAQ 0.68(0-3). The HRQoL was evaluated through SF36(100-0) eight domains, physical function (PF), physical role (PR), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (V), social function (SF), emotional role (ER), and mental health (MH). Disease activity was assessed using ACR core set, swollen joint count (SJcount 0-28), tender joint count (TJ count 0-28), pain by visual analogue scale (VAS 0-100), patient global assessment by VAS, physician global assessment by VAS, acute phase reactant erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Westergren, mm/h), and disability by mHAQ(0-3). Results The mHAQ showed good correlation with PF, BP(r > 0.61), SF(r > 0.55), and correlated with PR, V(r > 0.47). VAS pain correlated well with BP and V(r > 0.60), and correlated with PF, PR, and GH(r >o.41), patients global assessment correlated with BP, GH, V(r > 0.48). All correlations had p Conclusion SF36 showed to be a practical tool for use in RA patients and may facilitate to achieve burden of impact of disease and to compare with that of other chronic diseases. In this cohort mHAQ was significantly associated with physical and social function as well as bodily pain and vitality. VAS patients global assessment was associated with general health, vitality and bodily pain. No correlation were found with physical and mental role suggesting that different information is involved. Differences with others RA cohorts may be due to demographic characteristics and medical conditions in our group.