Supplement Article |
PP7. QUALITY OF LIFE IN GCA AND PMR PATIENTS UNDER STEROIDS: THE PROSPECTIVE, MULTICENTRIC GRACG STUDY
1 Department of Internal Medicine and RECIF, CHU Nord, Amiens, France, 2 Laboratory of Virology et 3 RECIF, Lyon-Grange-Blanche School of Medicine, Lyon, France, 4 Department of Internal Medicine 2, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
Background: Our objective was to assess the subjective feelings of the GCA/PMR patients, whose quality of life has been rarely studied.
Methods: One hundred patients of the GRACG cohort were asked to describe their actual experience of the disease and/or the treatment on plain paper. Based on their answers, a structured questionnaire was built, and sent to the 382 living patients of the cohort.
Results: One hundred and ninety seven patients answered (131 females and 66 males). Among them, 15.75% of females and 8% of males reported important gain weight, but two thirds found the steroid-related diet easy to follow with no significant disturbance of taste, meal preparation or social relations. Women reported more sleep disturbances than men (39.4% vs. 16.7%, p = 0.04), and were more often anxious (21.4% vs. 7.8%, p = 0.003). Cutaneous symptoms mainly included hematomas (in 35% of female, and 21% of male patients), facial swelling (20.9%, and 9.5%), dry skin (32.2 %, and 9.7%), and xerostomia (27.6 %, and 14.3%). Half of the patients complained about walking difficulties, and 62.7 of female patients, vs. 43.5 of males, of cataract. Pain was improved in only 75% of the patients. However, overall satisfaction degree was ‘very high’ for 78% of female, and 90.3% of male patients.
Conclusion: The causes of persisting pain, reported by 25% of the patients, need to be further explored (sequellas ? osteo-arthritis ? osteoporosis ?). Cataract is an important issue, and walking difficulties need to be better addressed.