Chinese SLE Treatment and Research Group Registry (CSTAR) XIV: the subjective well-being of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can significantly influence patients' quality of life and subjective well-being (SWB), but the relationships between clinical characteristics, SWB, and related psychological factors have been little studied.

Objective: To measure SWB in patients with SLE and examine how major clinical determinants, emotional variables, and related positive factors affect SWB.

Methods: Overall, 1,110 patients with SLE from the Chinese SLE Treatment and Research Group (CSTAR) and 198 age and gender-matched individuals from the general population without self-reported SLE were invited to complete questionnaires of SWB evaluated by the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS), emotional variables assessed by the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and general anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7) and related positive factors assessed by the self-esteem scale (SES), general self-efficacy scale (GESE), and Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). The multivariate linear regression was used to examine the relationship between clinical manifestations and SWB.

Results: Life satisfaction was significantly lower ( < 0.001) in patients with SLE than in the general population. Active skin involvement (OR = 0.923, 95% CI = 0.868-0.981, < 0.05) was negatively associated with life satisfaction scores, and age at enrollment (OR = 1.160, 95% CI = 1.092-1.230, < 0.001) were positively associated with life satisfaction scores in the multivariate regression model. The cumulative organ damage was significantly associated with depression (OR = 1.085, 95% CI = 1.022-1.153, < 0.01) and the loss of self-esteem (OR = 1.067, 95% CI = 1.004-1.133, < 0.05).

Conclusion: SWB provides useful insight into the impact of SLE on psychological health and opportunities to improve quality of life and clinical care.