OBJECTIVES:We aimed to assess the defensive profile of primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients and to investigate the independent associations of psychological distress and personality variables with health-related quality of life (HRQOL).METHODS:In 40 primary SS patients we assessed psychological distress (SCL-90-R), ego defense mechanisms (Defense Style Questionnaire), hostility features (HDHQ) and HRQOL (WHOQOL-BREF). Fifty-six patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosous (SLE) and 80 healthy participants matched for age and sex served as controls.RESULTS:Primary SS patients presented higher rates of general psychological distress compared to SLE and healthy participants. Symptoms of somatisation were more prominent in SS than SLE or healthy controls. SS patients presented less use of humour defense and more help-rejecting complains and delusional guilt hostility, compared to controls. Primary SS patients' HRQOL was more impaired than healthy participants and comparable to SLE. Psychological distress was a constant independent correlate of SS patients' HRQOL, while less use of humour (p<0.001) and higher rates of delusional guilt (p=0.032) were also significantly associated with Physical HRQOL independently of psychological distress; more use of schizoid fantasy was also independently associated with impaired Environment HRQOL (p=0.005).CONCLUSIONS:Primary SS patients exhibit several specific psychological difficulties in adaptation to life stressors, and clinicians and consultation-liaison psychiatrists, apart from the early assessment and treatment of psychological distress and somatisation symptoms, should consider the patients' underlying defensive profile and coping capacities, since such personality traits, although usually underestimated, are also independently associated with the disease outcome.

OBJECTIVE:To test whether psychological distress and personality variables mediate or moderate physical health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.METHODS:In 168 RA patients the following self-report instruments were administered: the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Defence Style Questionnaire (DSQ), the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ), and the Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale. A total of 152 patients with several rheumatological disorders [56 with systemic sclerosis (SSc), 56 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 40 with Sjögren's syndrome (SS)] served as disease controls. The outcome measure was the physical scale of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF). We used hierarchical regression to determine whether our data were consistent with the disablement process model.RESULTS:In RA patients, sense of coherence was associated with physical HRQOL but the relationship was mediated by psychological distress. Self-sacrificing defence style moderated the relationship between pain and physical HRQOL: pain was associated with impaired physical HRQOL only in patients with predominant self-sacrificing defence style. Although psychological distress and personality variables were also associated with physical HRQOL in the disease control group, the moderating effects of personality on physical HRQOL were unique to RA. Thus, in RA, psychological distress, functional disability, and the interaction term between pain and self-sacrificing defence style were independently associated with physical HRQOL.CONCLUSIONS:In RA patients, psychological distress mediated the association of personality variables with physical HRQOL but personality moderated the effects of pain on physical HRQOL and this could be relevant to psychological interventions.