Lupus Low Disease Activity State and Organ Damage in Relation to Quality of Life in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: a Cohort Study with Up to 11 Years of Follow-up

Objectives: Beyond prevention of organ damage, treatment goals in SLE include optimization of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The Lupus Low Disease Activity State (LLDAS) has received increasing attention as a goal whenever remission cannot be achieved. How SLE disease activity, organ damage and LLDAS attainment relate to patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is not fully explored, which formed the scope of this investigation.

Methods: We included 327 patients with SLE from a tertiary referral centre. Longitudinal registrations of disease activity using SLEDAI-2K and physician global assessment (PhGA), organ damage using the SLICC/ACR damage index (SDI), pharmacotherapies, EQ-5D-3L data, as well as visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for fatigue, pain and overall SLE-related health state over a median follow-up time of 8.5 years were analysed.

Results: In the overall population, as well as subgroups of patients with recent-onset SLE and those with clinically active, autoantibody-positive disease, LLDAS attainment, lower PhGA and lower clinical SLEDAI-2K scores were associated with favourable HRQoL by EQ-5D-3L and VAS assessments, while increasing SDI scores were associated with poor PROs except for fatigue in the overall population. PROs were further enhanced by being in LLDAS sustainedly. In fully adjusted models of the entire study population, LLDAS attainment and lower disease activity were associated with favourable PROs, irrespective of SDI.

Conclusion: In one of the longest observational studies to date, we demonstrated that low disease activity and being sustainedly in LLDAS were coupled with favourable HRQoL, pain, fatigue and overall health experience, irrespective of organ damage.