The annual European League Against
Rheumatism (EULAR) 2012 Congress took place in Berlin this year, and among the highlights was
the following report on one of the UKPSSR research studies:
The first report
on the health problems encountered by patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome
(PSS) indicates a significant burden in terms of impaired health status
compared to the UK
general population – with depression and fatigue being the key factors.
Presenting the details of a survey involving 620 patients with PSS, Dr Wan-Fai Ng, (Clinical Senior Lecturer, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Institute of Cellular Medicine, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) explained that the survey he and his colleagues carried out used EuroQol (EQ)-5D, an increasingly popular health-related quality of life instrument - but which has not until now been applied to patients with PSS.
Dr Ng said that EQ-5D provides a simple descriptive profile, a single index value for health status and a visual analogue score (VAS). “The key advantages of EQ-5D are that the instrument is preference-based, easy to complete and the value sets can be easily converted to quality adjusted life years (QALYs) to aid cost-utility analysis.”
The proportion of PSS patients reporting any problem in mobility (42.4%), self-care (16.9%), usual activities (56.7%), pain/discomfort (81.1%) and anxiety/depression (49.6%) were far higher than in the UK population as a whole (5.4%, 1.6%, 7.9%, 30.2% and 15.7%, respectively).
Presenting the details of a survey involving 620 patients with PSS, Dr Wan-Fai Ng, (Clinical Senior Lecturer, Musculoskeletal Research Group, Institute of Cellular Medicine, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne) explained that the survey he and his colleagues carried out used EuroQol (EQ)-5D, an increasingly popular health-related quality of life instrument - but which has not until now been applied to patients with PSS.
Dr Ng said that EQ-5D provides a simple descriptive profile, a single index value for health status and a visual analogue score (VAS). “The key advantages of EQ-5D are that the instrument is preference-based, easy to complete and the value sets can be easily converted to quality adjusted life years (QALYs) to aid cost-utility analysis.”
The proportion of PSS patients reporting any problem in mobility (42.4%), self-care (16.9%), usual activities (56.7%), pain/discomfort (81.1%) and anxiety/depression (49.6%) were far higher than in the UK population as a whole (5.4%, 1.6%, 7.9%, 30.2% and 15.7%, respectively).
The mean VAS score
in PSS patients was 59.9, compared to 81.3 for the general population, and
further analysis showed that EQ-5D VAS correlated with many clinical features
of PSS - most strongly with fatigue, depression and pain.
Among the laboratory measures, only immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, paraproteins and propionylcarnitine (C3) correlated with EQ-5D VAS.
Dr Ng concluded: “Our data adds to the growing body of evidence that effective management of fatigue is key to improving the health status of PSS patients.”
Among the laboratory measures, only immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, paraproteins and propionylcarnitine (C3) correlated with EQ-5D VAS.
Dr Ng concluded: “Our data adds to the growing body of evidence that effective management of fatigue is key to improving the health status of PSS patients.”
For
further information visit http://www.congresscatchup.com/.
