Clinical activity and perception of quality of life in the pediatric population with rheumatic diseases
Keywords:
quality of life; rheumatic disease; disease activity index; inflammation, quality of life , rheumatic disease, disease activity index, inflammationAbstract
Introduction: Rheumatic diseases in childhood affect the biopsychosocial development of patients, which in turn affects their perception of quality of life. Therefore, it is crucial to manage the clinical activity of these diseases to improve the health status of the pediatric population.
Objective: To determine the relationship between disease activity and the perceived quality of life of children and adolescents with rheumatic diseases.
Methods: A basic, descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational study was conducted, including 169 pediatric patients with a confirmed diagnosis of rheumatic diseases. The variables identified were general characteristics, clinical disease activity, and perceived quality of life. The relationship between these two variables was determined using Pearson's correlation coefficient.
Results: The average age was 11.57 years, with a predominance of female patients (57.99%), residing in urban areas (62.72%), diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with negative rheumatoid factor (52.66%), and disease duration between 1 and 3 years (55.03%). 42.01% of patients presented with active disease. The mean overall quality of life score was 23.11, and the most affected dimensions were pain (3.96), physical fitness (3.77), and daily activities (3.35).
Conclusions: There is a considerable moderate negative correlation between disease activity and the perceived quality of life of the pediatric patients who participated in the study.
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