Estimación de la calidad de vida en pacientes hospitalizados con lupus eritematoso sistémico en una institución de tercer nivel en Colombia

Abstract

Introduction

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease, to which high morbidity and mortality are attributed that affect quality of life.

Objective

To estimate the quality of life of patients hospitalized with SLE in a tertiary institution in Colombia.

Materials and methods

Descriptive, observational cross-sectional design of patients with SLE, hospitalized between July 2022 and January 2023, to whom an instrument that included the SF-36 quality of life scale was applied.

Results

Forty-four patients were included, with an average age of 37 years, 88.6% women. The main cause of hospitalization was disease activity at 61.3%. The physical role was the most affected with an average of 23.5 points and 78.9% of the participants had deterioration in physical functioning, especially among women, mixed race, with more than one year from diagnosis and independently of the manifestations of the disease. The dimension of health change and social role were especially affected in patients with moderate to high activity, and the use of glucocorticoids was related to this negative impact on health change.

Conclusion

It is necessary to study the quality of life in hospitalized patients with SLE for a comprehensive approach to treatment, taking into account that physical role and functioning are the dimensions most affected globally, and that the health change and social role dimensions are the most affected in those with moderate to high disease activity.