AB0917-PARE KNOWLEDGE ON SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE) AND ITS MANAGEMENT AMONG SLE PATIENTS ATTENDING RHEUMATOLOGY CLINIC AT NATIONAL HOSPITAL OF SRI LANKA
Authors: H. Perera, G. Kasthuriratna
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic relapsing and remitting multi-system involving autoimmune condition mainly affecting females of reproductive years. As any other chronic disease needing long term treatment and follow up, proper patient education and high level of patients’ knowledge on their own diagnosis is mandatory for the optimum management. It is proven that poor patient awareness has led to poor compliance and catastrophic relapses. There were no Sri Lankan study to assess patients’ knowledge on SLE and its management. Objectives: To describe the demographic data, any exposure to patient education and to assess knowledge about their own diagnosis and its management among a group of already diagnosed patients with SLE attending rheumatology clinic in National Hospital of Sri Lanka. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out with convenience sampling and data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaire. All already diagnosed patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus attending the Rheumatology clinic during the data collection period were invited to participate in the study and total of 45 were enrolled with 100% response rate. Results: Overall 45 participants were in the study and all were females. The mean age was 37 (±12.53) years and the average disease duration was 62 months. Considering the exposure to patient education 89.87% had at least one type of patient education and 10.1% had none. A significant proportion (84.4%) was aware about their own diagnosis and 82.2% was able to correctly mention their current medication. Overall knowledge about the disease and its management was moderate (68.7%) among this study population according to our scoring system. However, they had a poor knowledge (45%) relating to pregnancy and contraception. Conclusion: The above study describes important demographic data, exposure to patient education and patients’ knowledge about their own disease in population of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus patients attending National Hospital of Sri Lanka. Their overall knowledge regarding SLE, its management and complications were at a moderate level and awareness regarding pregnancy and contraception in a SLE patient was at a lower level. Therefore, clinicians should pay more attention in to patient education when managing conditions like SLE as it directly affect the patients’ compliance and overall disease outcome. References: [1]Cooper GS, Dooley MA, Treadwell EL, et al. Hormonal, environmental, and infectious risk factors for developing systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 1998; 41:1714. [2]Costenbader KH, Feskanich D, Stampfer MJ, Karlson EW. Reproductive and menopausal factors and risk of systemic lupus erythematosus in women. Arthritis Rheum 2007; 56:1251. [3]Lahita RG. The role of sex hormones in systemic lupus erythematosus. Curr Opin Rheumatol 1999; 11:352. [4]Hochberg MC. The incidence of systemic lupus erythematosus in Baltimore, Maryland, 1970-1977. Arthritis Rheum 1985; 28:80. [5]Serdula MK, Rhoads GG. Frequency of systemic lupus erythematosus in different ethnic groups in Hawaii. Arthritis Rheum 1979; 22:328. [6]Fernández M, Alarcón GS, Calvo-Alén J, et al. A multiethnic, multicenter cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as a model for the study of ethnic disparities in SLE. Arthritis Rheum 2007; 57:576. [7]Callahan LF, Pincus T. Associations between clinical status questionnaire scores and formal education level in persons with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 1990; 33:407. [8]Petri M, Perez-Gutthann S, Longenecker JC, Hochberg M. Morbidity of systemic lupus erythematosus: role of race and socioeconomic status. Am J Med 1991; 91:345. [9]Soe YM, Thant WLY, Sara Z, Nann Z, Oo PP, Kyaw PP, Lin KS, Aung KLL, Soe C. knowledge about their own disease among systemic erythematosus patients. Researchgate doi: 10.1111/1756 – 185x.13361. Disclosure of Interests: None declared