Introduction

Rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are chronic autoimmune diseases affecting quality of life.

Patients and methods

Two hundred patients diagnosed with RA and SLE were enrolled in this study. Four questionnaires (SF36, The Hamilton anxiety scale, The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, The Female Sexual Function Index) were administered.

Results

In this cross-sectional study, all domains of SF36 had significant negative correlations with DAS 28. Patients with no flare and those with mild to moderate SLEDAI had significantly higher SF36 domains as compared to patients with severe SLEDAI (P < 0.05). DAS 28 score had a positive moderate significant correlation with HAM-A (P = 0.01, r = 0.46). SLE patients with severe activity had higher HAM-A in contrast to other patients (17.75 ± 7.65, P = 0.02). DAS 28 score had positive significant correlation with Zung self-rating depression score (P = 0.01, r = 0.46). SLE patients with severe activity had significantly higher Zung depression score as compared to other patients (51.60 ± 17.99, P = 0.03). DAS 28 has significant strong negative correlation with female sexual index (r = −0.80, P = 0.00). The female sexual index mean value was insignificantly lower in those with severe disease activity (14.60 ± 9.50).

Conclusion

This study confirms that RA and SLE impair all aspects of quality of life. In RA patients disease activity negatively correlates with quality of life and sexual function, while there is a positive correlation with depression and anxiety. In SLE patients disease activity negatively correlates with quality of life and sexual dysfunction.