Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Women with Lupus

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune progressive connective tissue disease characterized by multiple organ involvement and a highly variable clinical course. The aim of this study was to predict the health-related quality of life of women with lupus based on perceived stress, fear of perceptual body image and psychological resilience. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 189 women with lupus in Hafez Hospital in Shiraz in 2019. Data were collected through the quality of life questionnaire (LupusQol), perceived stress questionnaire (PSS-14), body image fear inventory (BICI), and Conners and Davidson Technology Questionnaire, and they were analyzed using SPSS version 16 software with descriptive statistics and linear regression. Results: The mean age and duration of the disease were 40.37±9.47 and 9.45±6.01 years, respectively. Based on the level of education, 43.79% of the patients were undergraduates, 86.8% were housewives and 57.7% were in the active phase of the disease. The mean score of resilience was 67.56±16.07, quality of life 57.30±22.68, stress 25.31±7.78 and fear of body image was 37.07±13.96. Stress, fear of body image, resilience, disease phase, education and occupation accounted for 52% of the total quality of life variability. Conclusion: The quality of life of the women with lupus is affected by the variables such as stress, fear of body image and resilience. Thus, the higher the stress and fear of body image in women with lupus and the lower the rate of resilience, the lower the quality of life.