Abstract
Objective
To develop a Japanese version of LupusQoL (LupusQoL-JP) and assess its validity and reliability in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods
This study consisted of two independent cross-sectional analyses using data from two different periods at our university clinic: 2011 (initial period, n = 266) and 2015–2018 (second period, n = 133). The English version of the LupusQoL was translated into Japanese and administered to Japanese patients with SLE, alongside other questionnaires, including the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the 5-level EuroQoL 5-Dimensions Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). Physicians also completed measures such as the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index (SDI) and SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K), and assessed lupus low disease activity state (LLDAS) attainment.
Results
LupusQoL-JP showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α > 0.8). All subscales, except for fatigue, demonstrated good test-retest reliability. The LupusQoL-JP and SF-36 scores were strongly correlated with comparable domains. The LupusQoL-JP subscale scores were moderately to strongly correlated with the EQ-5D-5L index values, while weakly correlated with the SDI and generally not correlated with age, disease duration, prednisolone dosage, or SLEDAI-2K. Some LupusQoL-JP domains were able to differentiate between the LLDAS and non-LLDAS groups.
Conclusion
LupusQoL-JP was successfully translated, adapted, and validated. It demonstrated good concurrent validity with comparable domains of the SF-36 and was independent of SLEDAI-2K. Patients with SLE in LLDAS were partly associated with better disease-specific health-related quality of life, as assessed by LupusQoL-JP.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
