Poorer functionality is related to better quality of life response following the use of biological drugs: 6-month outcomes in a prospective cohort from the Public Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde), Minas Gerais, Brazil. (June 2014) - de Oliveira Junior, Haliton Alves
Abstract We aim to analyze factors associated with the quality of life (QOL) response of individuals with rheumatic diseases treated by the Public Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde) with biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs). Data from 428 patients using bDMARDs were collected using a standardized form at baseline and 6 months after the onset of treatment. The average reduction of the scores on EuroQol-five dimension was 0.11 ± 0.18 6 months after the onset of treatment with bDMARDs, denoting significant improvement of the participants' QOL. All the investigated types of disease exhibited significant improvement at the 6-month assessment, without any difference among them (p = 0.965). The participants with baseline poorest functionality and best QOL exhibited the best QOL outcomes after 6 months of treatment. Our study showed that the use of biological drugs induced considerable improvement in the participants' QOL.