Psychiatric symptomatology in skin-restricted lupus patients without axis I psychiatric disorders: A post-hoc analysis

BACKGROUND

Skin-restricted lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with high rates of depression and anxiety disorders. Patients without psychiatric disorders can experience anxiety and depressive symptoms at a subclinical level, which could be risk factors for progression towards psychiatric disorders. It was decided, therefore, to investigate the presence of specific symptoms in skin-restricted lupus patients without axis I psychiatric disorders and their impact on the occurrence of axis I psychiatric disorders during the study follow-up.

METHODS

Longitudinal data of 38 patients and 76 matched controls without active axis I psychiatric disorders from the LuPsy cohort were used. Depressive, neurovegetative, psychic and somatic anxiety symptom scores were established from the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating scale (HAMA).

RESULTS

None of the participants had any current active axis I psychiatric disorders but the patients had personality disorders more frequently and had received more past psychotropic treatments than the controls. They also had higher MADRS and HAMA scores than the controls, in particular neurovegetative, psychic anxiety and somatic symptoms scores. No dermatological factor tested was associated with these scores, whereas being a lupus patient was associated with higher neurovegetative and somatic symptoms scores, having a current personality disorder with higher depressive and neurovegetative scores and receiving more past psychotropic treatments with psychic anxiety and somatic symptoms scores. The occurrence of psychiatric disorders during the study follow-up was associated with an elevated psychic anxiety score at baseline and past psychotropic treatment but not with history of psychiatric disorder.

LIMITATIONS

The LuPsy cohort included a large number of patients with axis I psychiatric disorders, the sample without axis I psychiatric disorders is therefore limited.

CONCLUSIONS

We observed numerous psychiatric symptoms among the skin-restricted lupus patients. They should therefore receive special attention in the management of their subclinical symptoms before they progress towards full psychiatric disorders.

Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the French version of the Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome Quality of Life Scale (GTS-QOL)

INTRODUCTION

The Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome-Quality of Life Scale (GTS-QOL) is a self-rated disease-specific questionnaire to assess health-related quality of life of subjects with GTS. Our aim was to perform the cross-cultural adaptation of the GTS-QOL into French and to assess its psychometric properties.

METHODS

The GTS-QOL was cross-culturally adapted by conducting forward and backward translations, following international guidelines. The psychometric properties of the GTS-QOL-French were assessed in 109 participants aged 16 years and above with regard to factor structure, internal consistency, reliability and convergent validity with the MOVES (Motor tic, Obsessions and compulsions, Vocal tic Evaluation Survey) and the WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief).

RESULTS

Exploratory factor analysis of the GTS-QOL-French resulted in a 6-factor solution and did not replicate the original structure in four subscales. The results showed good acceptability (missing values per subscale ranging from 0% to 0.9%), good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.68 to 0.94) and good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.70 to 0.81). Convergent validity with the MOVES and WHOQOL-BREF scales showed high correlations.

DISCUSSION

Our study provides evidence of the good psychometric properties of the GTS-QOL-French. The cross-cultural adaptation and validation of this specific instrument will make it possible to assess health-related quality of life in French-speaking subjects with GTS. The GTS-QOL-French could be recommended for use in future research.