Sensitivity and specificity of assesment instruments of quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To check sensitivity and specificity of assessment instruments of QoL in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

METHODOLOGY: Accuracy study in a sample consisting of patients with confirmed diagnosis of RA. QoL questionnaires QV SF-36 (Gold Standard), HAQ and NHP were applied. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient, ROC curve, AUC and Youden Index (J) were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: This study enrolled 97 individuals with RA. The functional capacity estimated by SF-36 was correlated with the total score of HAQ (r=-0.666; p<0.001; J=0.579), while the emotional aspects of SF-36 were correlated with the emotional reactions domain of NHP (r=-0.316;p=0.005; J=0.341). The vitality domain of SF-36 was correlated with the level of energy of NHP (r=-0.362; p=0.001; J=0.302). For the evaluation of functional capacity (AUC=0.839; p<0.001) and physical aspect (AUC=0.755; p<0.001) the most accurate instrument was the HAQ. For evaluation of the impact of vitality, sleep (AUC=0.679;p=0.007), emotional reactions (AUC=0.674; p=0.009) and level of energy in QoL, the NHP (AUC=0.633; p=0.045) was the most specific and sensitive. In the evaluation of the emotional aspect domain, the most accurate instrument was the NHP in the «emotional reaction» score (AUC=0.699; p=0.003). The evaluation of pain was limited in the three instruments and SF-36 was the only one in assess of the domains of social aspects and general health status.

CONCLUSION: For evaluation of the physical aspects in patients with RA, the HAQ is the most accurate. For evaluation of emotional aspects the NHP is the most indicated, although the SF-36 was the only one in the evaluation of general domains.