IMPACT OF CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LYME BORRELIOSIS ON PATIENTS' LIFE QUALITY.

OBJECTIVE

The aim: To study the impact of clinical characteristics of the disease on the life quality of patients with Lyme borreliosis.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Materials and methods: Forty-eight (33 women and 15 men) patients with Lyme borreliosis aged 23-77 years and 48 individuals who did not have any somatic diseases that would impact the quality of life (experimental group) were examined. The MOS 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to study the quality of life. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).

RESULTS

Results

According to the SF-36 questionnaire, patients with Lyme borreliosis had a significant decrease in scores for all indicators of physical health (р < 0.001), as well as impaired social (р < 0.001) and emotional (p = 0.027) functioning compared with healthy individuals. The deterioration of the quality of life indicators essentially depends on the clinical characteristics of the disease, namely its duration, the presence of Lyme arthritis, neuroborreliosis, cognitive disorders, multiple organ involvement, disease stage.

CONCLUSION

Conclusions

Lyme borreliosis and its certain clinical characteristics have a significant impact on the life quality of patients.