Lack of patient education is risk factor of disease flare in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in China

BACKGROUND: To explore the inadequacies of health service and its impact on clinical outcomes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in China. METHODS: A total of 210 SLE patients were randomly recruited between January 2017 and January 2018. Each patient received self-report questionnaires to assess medication adherence [Compliance Questionnaire for Rheumatology (CQR)], beliefs about medicines [Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ)] and satisfaction about medicine information [the Satisfaction with Information about Medicines Scale (SIMS)]. Associations between SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI-2 K) and observed factors were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Based on CQR, only 28.10% patients were adherent. The score of BMQ was 2.85 ± 5.42, and merely 32.38% patients were satisfied with the information about their prescribed medicines. Disease activity was associated with SIMS, EuroQol five-dimensions [EQ5D], Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC), depression, use of NSAID (P ≤ 0.05). Remission of disease was positively correlated with SIMS (OR = 0.16, 95% CI: [0.06, 0.40]), and BMQ (OR = 0.64, 95%CI: [0.43, 0.94]). CONCLUSION: In this study, the scores of BMQ and SIMS were low, implying defects in the patient education of health service system, which led to disease flare in Chinese SLE patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03024307. Registered January 18, 2017. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4206-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.