Sense of coherence and its impact on quality of life of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

The sense of coherence (SOC) construct refers to a global orientation, which significantly determines the link between stressors, coping with disease and health. The aim of this work was to assess possible associations between SOC and quality of life (QOL) scores among women with SLE. Sixty consecutive SLE women and 88 healthy women were included in the study. QOL was assessed using the SF-36 and the WHO QOL-Bref scales. The SOC has three main sub-scales: comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Regression analyses were used to study associations between various parameters of SF-36, WHO QOL-Bref, SOC, SLEDAI, indices of end organ damage (SDI), and demographic variables. Mean SLEDAI and SDI scores were 4.5 (SD = 5.6) and 1.29 (SD = 2). SLE patients had significantly lower scores for all individual and summary sub-scales in the two QOL questionnaires compared with controls. SLE patients had significantly lower scores for the general, comprehensibility and meaningfulness sub-scales of SOC. No significant correlation was seen between SOC scores and measures of disease activity or end-organ damage. A strong linear correlation was seen between the scores of SOC, general WHO QOL-Bref, and the mental and physical component summary (MCS & PCS) scores of SF36. Age, SOC and SDI significantly affected the PCS score. SOC was the only variable independently associated with MCS. Education and SOC were significantly associated with the general WHO QOL-Bref. Age, education, SDI and SOC were independently associated with QOL of women with SLE.