Responsiveness of PROMIS ® Global Health Short Form in Outpatients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the longitudinal responsiveness (sensitivity to change) of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systems (PROMIS® ) global health short form (PROMIS10) in outpatients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: SLE outpatients receiving care at an academic medical center completed PROMIS10 at two visits a minimum of one month apart. Responsiveness of PROMIS10 global physical and mental health domains was evaluated in patients with improvement or deterioration of health status as measured by standard validated instruments. Effect sizes of changes in PROMIS10 scores between visits were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-three SLE patients enrolled and completed baseline surveys, with 186 (82%) completing a second set of questionnaires. PROMIS10 demonstrated mild to moderate responsiveness to patient-reported improvement (effect size 0.29) and worsening (effect sizes -0.27 and -0.54) of health status for both global physical health and global mental health. Changes in PROMIS10 correlated poorly with changes in physician-reported measures of disease activity. CONCLUSION: PROMIS10 showed responsiveness over time to patient-reported, but not physician-assessed changes in lupus health status. These data suggest that PROMIS10 can be used to efficiently measure and monitor important aspects of the patient experience of lupus not captured by standard physician-derived metrics. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of PROMIS10 in optimizing longitudinal disease management in SLE and to determine its responsiveness in other chronic health conditions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.