The mediating effect of fatigue in impaired quality of life in systemic lupus erythematosus: mediation analysis of the French EQUAL cohort.

OBJECTIVES: Mediation analyses were conducted to measure the extent to which Musculoskeletal (MSK) flares and depression affected physical health through excessive fatigue.

METHODS: Mediation analyses were performed in a large multicentre cohort of SLE patients. Domains of LupusQoL and SLEQOL questionnaires were selected as outcomes, MSK flares according to the SFI-R score and depression defined by CES-D scale as exposures and different fatigue domains from MFI-20 and LupusQoL questionnaires as mediators. For each model, total, direct, indirect effects and proportion of effect mediated by fatigue (i.e. proportion of change in HRQoL) were determined.

RESULTS: Of the 336 patients, 94 (28%) had MSK flares at inclusion and 99 (29.5%) were considered with depression. The proportion of the total effect of MSK flares on physical health impairment explained by fatigue ranged from 59.6% to 78% using the LupusQOL "physical health" domain and from 51.1% to 73.7% using the SLEQOL "physical functioning" domain, depending on the fatigue domain selected. The proportion of the total effect of depression on physical health impairment explained by fatigue ranged from 68.8% to 87.6% using the LupusQOL "physical health" domain and from 79.3% to 103.2% using the SLEQOL "physical functioning" domain, depending on the fatigue domain selected.

CONCLUSIONS: The effect of MSK flares and depression on physical health impairment is largely mediated by fatigue. Thus, the patient's perception of disease activity as measured by physical health is largely influenced by fatigue. In addition, fatigue has a significant negative impact on QoL of SLE patients with depression.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01904812.