Post-traumatic stress disorder in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus heavily affects quality of life. A cross-sectional web survey-based study.

Objectives: Neuropsychiatric symptoms develop in up to 20% of the patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Growing evidence is accruing on the association of SLE with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but little is known about its contribution on patient-reported outcomes. This study focuses on PTSD prevalence in our SLE cohort and on its impact on quality of life.

Methods: Trauma and Loss Spectrum - Self Reported (TALS-SR) and Lupus Quality of Life (Lupus QoL) questionnaires were administered via web to the patients with SLE in our cohort, along with questions on demographical and disease-related aspects.

Results: Among 99 patients who completed the questionnaire, fatigue prevalence was 75% and 31% scored TALS-SR test consistently with PTSD. Patients with PTSD achieved lower scores compared to those without PTSD in three Lupus QoL domains: planning (83.3 vs. 100, = .035), body image (85.0 vs. 95.0, = .031) and fatigue (66.7 vs. 91.7, = .001). An inverse correlation was found between TALS-SR domains and Lupus QoL scores, particularly regarding fatigue with reaction to losses or upsetting events (ρ -0.458, < .001).

Conclusions: PTSD is possibly far more frequent in patients with SLE than in general population and exerts a detrimental influence on quality of life.