Pos1512-HPR Understanding Illness Cognition Impact on Quality of Life and Self-Esteem in Reproductive Age Women With Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases

Background: Autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) are chronic inflammatory conditions that cause pain, fatigue, and disability affecting the quality of life (QoL). Psychological mechanisms such as illness cognition and self-esteem have been described to aid in adapting to chronic conditions. Illness cognition is defined as the patient's implicit common-sense beliefs about their illness. Finding disease benefits and higher self-esteem can significantly impact physical and mental well-being improving QoL. Therefore, identifying these psychological factors may empower and improve coping skills facing ARDs. Objectives: We aimed to correlate illness cognition and self-esteem with QoL in reproductive-age women with ARDs Methods: An observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study included women of reproductive age with ARDs between 18 and 50 years from our Pregnancy and Reproductive Health Clinic for Rheumatic Diseases (CREER) in a University Hospital in Monterrey, Mexico. Three questionnaires were applied. The Illness Cognition Questionnaire (ICQ) is an 18-item questionnaire with three dimensions related to the factors of helplessness, acceptance, and perceived benefits, each with a scoring range of 6-24. The World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref (WHOQOL-Bref) is a 26-item scale that ranges from 26 to 130 (a higher score indicates a higher QoL). The Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE) is a 10-item scale with a scoring range of 10-40 (a higher score indicates a higher self-esteem). The Shapiro-Wilk, Spearman, and Pearson tests were performed. Data are presented in frequencies, percentages, mean and standard derivation (SD), or median and interquartile range (IQR). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS v.25. Results: A total of 29 women of reproductive age with ARDs were included with a mean age of 31.25±7.017 years. Table 1 shows the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The means of the ICQ total score was 45.04 ± 5.246, the acceptance dimension was 29 ± 18.10; the QoL score was 87.07 ± 12.643, and the RSE score was 26.75 ± 2.771. The ICQ medians of the helplessness dimension were 9 (6-12) and the perceived benefits were 17 (16-21). We found a significant correlation between the patients' perceived benefits with their QoL (p=0.002, r=0.545), and self-esteem (p=0.031, r=0.402). Helplessness was significantly correlated with their QoL (p= 0.001, r=-0.601), and self-esteem (p=0.001, r=-0.580). Disease acceptance was significantly correlated with QoL (p=<0.001, r=0.635) and self-esteem (p=0.004, r=0.514). A significant correlation was found between acceptance of the disease and years of education (p=0.427, r=0.021). No correlation was found between age and years of education with the perceived benefits and patients' helplessness. The scores correlations are found in Table 2. Conclusion: We found that women with ARDs who found higher perceived benefits of their disease and higher self-esteem levels had higher QoL, while those with higher helplessness and lower self-esteem had worse QoL. The acceptance of the disease improved outcomes for QoL and self-esteem. Focused interventions aimed to change negative perceptions of self-esteem and the disease, encourage acceptance, and emphasize perceived benefits may improve QoL.REFERENCES: NIL. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure of Interests: None declared.