Health‐related quality of life measurement in adult systemic lupus erythematosus: Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus‐Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (SLEQOL), and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Quality of Life Questionnaire (L‐QoL)

Throughout the course of their disease, individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) face considerable physical, psychological and social challenges. The disease has profound effects on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL), which have been documented extensively in the literature (1). Capturing decrements and improvements in HRQoL has therefore become important in clinical research in SLE, and is advocated by both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in providing guidance to SLE clinical trialists as well as the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) group (2, 3). Here I review three measures designed to ascertain HRQoL in SLE, the Lupus Quality of Life (LupusQoL), SLE-specific Quality of Life questionnaire (SLEQoL) and SLE Quality of Life Questionnaire (L-QoL) (Table 1). These measures were chosen because they were developed and specifically designed as patient-reported outcome measures to assess quality of life in SLE and have all had some published validation testing to date. Table 1 Characteristics of disease-specific health-related quality-of-life measures in adult systemic lupus erythematosus.