THU0266 RESILIENCE IN WOMEN WITH PRIMARY SJÖGREN’S SYNDROME
Authors: F. Giardina, G. Curcio, R. Izzo, S. Colafrancesco, A. Gattamelata, L. Mastromanno, G. Valesini, R. Priori
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: Resilience is the ability to react positively to stressful life events, a multidimensional feature that varies in relation to context, time, age, sex, culture and personal experience, appearing among the most important traits in patients suffering from rheumatic diseases 1 . Several studies focus on patients with RA and SLE and the role of resilience in the respective clinical manifestations, as well as in the development of anxiety and depression 2,3 . Conversely, the data available regarding patients with primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (pSS) are limited. Objectives: To assess, in women with pSS (classified according to the criteria of Vitali et al. 4 ), the relationship between resilience and anxiety, depression, health, fatigue, physical activity and quality of life in relation to disease activity and duration and in consideration of demographic, job and cultural characteristics. Methods: 74 female patients with pSS afferent to the dedicated clinic of the University Hospital Policlinico Umberto I of Rome were recruited. Resilience was assessed by administering the Italian validated version of the Resilience Scale (RS-14) 5 consisting of 14 items, each of which is assigned a score from 1 to 7, with a range from 14 to 98. Higher scores relate to greater resilience. ESSDAI (EULAR Sjögren’s syndrome disease activity index), ESSPRI (EULAR Sjogren’s Syndrome Patient Reported Index), SSDDI (Sjogren’s Syndrome Disease Damage Index) were assessed and EuroQol / GH EQ VAS (visual analogue scale), HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), SF-12 (Short-form 12 health survey), FAS (Fatigue Assesment Scale), IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire), FACIT-F (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy – Fatigue) questionnaires were submitted. Educational qualifications and job were also considered. The statistical analysis was carried out by means of Spearman’s correlation. Results: No relationship was found between resilience, systemic disease activity, disease duration, patient-reported symptoms and damage. Furthermore, no apparent link was found between socio-demographic characteristics, employment and resilience. Conversely, an inverse relationship was found between resilience and mood disorders (p=0.0379), with greater resilience associated with a better perception of quality of life (p=0.0232) and general health (p=0.0002), mainly mental (p=0.0001) than physical (p=0.0035), as well as less fatigue (p=0.0079) and more phyisically active lifestyle (p=0.0012) Conclusion: For the first time, the role of resilience in women with pSS in relation to their disease and other individual parameters was assessed. The most resilient patients are less depressed and show better perception of their health. Greater resilience tends to correlate with less anxiety, physical and mental fatigue and a more active lyfestile, while there was no relation between resilience value, active disease and socio-demographic features. References: [1]Rojas M. et al., Resilience in women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases, Joint Bone Spine (2017). [2]Sílvia Fernanda Cal et al., Resilience in systemic lupus erythematosus, Psychology, Health &amp; Medicine (2013), 18:5, 558-563. [3]NeiLi Xu et al., Associations of perceived social support and positive psychological resources with fatigue symptom in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.PLoS One. 2017; 12(3). [4]Vitali C, et al. Classification criteria for Sjogren’s syndrome: a revised version of the European criteria proposed by the American-European Consensus Group. Ann Rheum Dis 2002; 61:554-558. [5]Camilla Callegari et al., Reliability and validity of the Italian version of the 14-item Resilience Scale, Psychology Research and Behavior Management 2016:9 277–284. Disclosure of Interests: None declared