Quality of life
We found significant differences between the two groups regarding quality of life (Table 2). When comparing the AE-QoL questionnaire, quality of life was significantly lower in CSU-AE (median, IQR: 37 [10–65]) than in CHA (18 (4–40), p=0.005). Across all dimensions, the AEQoL scores were significantly higher (worse QoL) in CSU-AE. In both groups, the most affected dimension was fear/shame (38 [0–58] in CHA vs. 50 [21–79] in CSU-AE, p=0.031), followed by fatigue/mood (15 [0–40] in CHA vs. 35 (0–65) in CSU-AE, p=0.012), functioning (0 [0–19] in CHA vs. 25 (0–56) in CSU-AE, p< 0.001) and nutrition (0 [0–13] in CHA vs. 25 (0–50) in CSU-AE, p=0.007).
Across most dimensions, the mean AEQoL scores were generally higher among patients reporting a higher disease severity AAS7 score (Figure 1A and B). This finding is reflected in a moderate positive correlation between AAS7 and AE-QoL (Spearman’s rho= 0.3892, p<0.001)
For CSU-AE, the median score of the CU-Q2oL questionnaire in CSU-AE patients was 49 (IQR: 27–66). We found a very strong positive correlation between AE-QoL and CU-Q2oL (Spearman’s rho= 0.8809, p<0.001) and a moderate positive correlation between UAS7 and CU-Q2oL (Spearman’s rho= 0.5455, p=0.002).