Abstract

ISNARDI, Carolina Ayelen et al. Validation of the Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA) in argentinean cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Rev. argent. reumatolg. [online]. 2018, vol.29, n.1, pp.19-25. ISSN 0327-4411.

The Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA) questionnaire was developed to assess quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It doesn´t require any license. Objective: To validate the QOL-RA in an Argentinean cohort of patients with RA. Material and methods: Cross-sectional study. Consecutive patients ≥18 years old, with a diagnosis of RA according to ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria were included. Sociodemographic data, comorbidities and RA characteristics were registered. Questionnaires were administered: EQ-5D-3L, QOL-RA, HAQ-A, PHQ-9. The time to complete and calculate QOL-RA was calculated. Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics. Student´s T, ANOVA and Chi² tests. Spearman correlation. Cronbach´s alpha. Intraclass correlation coefficient. Multinomial logistic regression with completed factorial model. Multiple linear regression. Results: 258 patients were included. 85.7% were females, with a median age of 54 years (IQR 45-62). The median of QOL-RA was 6.75 (IQR 5.4-8.1) and it has a good correlation with EQ-5D-3L (Rho: 0.63), HAQ-A (Rho: -0.56), PHQ-9 (Rho: -0.54), SDAI (Rho: -0.45) and DAS28-ESR (Rho: -0.44). Worse quality of life was associated with the presence of comorbidities (x 6.4 ± 2 vs 7 ± 1.7, p=0.01) and not doing physical activity (x 6.7 ± 1.9 vs 7.1 ± 1.7, p=0.004). The time to complete the questionnaire was x 1.7 ± 0.42 minutes and to calculate it was x 12 ± 2.1 seconds. It showed good reliability and reproducibility. However, 4.3% of the questionnaires presented at least one missing answer. Redundancy between questions 3 and 6 was observed. In the multivariate analysis, using QOL-RA as dependent variable, adjusting by age and disease duration, the functional disability, the disease activity, and the presence of depression and comorbidities were independently associated to worse quality of life. Conclusion: The QOL-RA demonstrated good construct validity, reproducibility and reliability. It is easy to complete and calculate. However, because of the redundancy between two questions we are going to change one of them and retest it.

Keywords : rheumatoid arthritis; quality of life; QOL-RA.

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