Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
International development of a lupus-specific instrument to assess cognitive symptoms in patients with SLE: Lupus Brain Fog Severity Scale (LBFSS) study
Authors' conclusion
The LBFSS is a new, valid and feasible PROM to assess brain fog and cognitive symptoms in SLE.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with SLE in a large international cohort (validation in 36 countries)validation step
- Participants
- 378 patients
- Outcome
- Psychometric properties of the LBFSS (validation, step 5)
Methodological detailsmulti-step international approach, thematic analysis, consensus, psychometric evaluation
- Multi-step international approach
- Thematic analysis
- Consensus
- Psychometric evaluation
Performance
As reported in the abstract
- Internal consistency (Cronbach's α)
- 0.95
- Unidimensional structure, variance explained
- 62.2%
- Known-group validity: LBFSS scores significantly higher in participants reporting brain fog
- p<0.0001
- Construct validity: correlations with functional impact and symptom severity (ρ)
- 0.46-0.65, p<0.0001
- Convergent validity with Perceived Deficits Questionnaire-20 (ρ)
- 0.84, p<0.0001
- Discrimination of presence vs absence of self-reported brain fog (AUC)
- 0.85
Further findings
Development (steps 1–4)
- SLE participants in step 1
- 147
- Countries in step 1
- 39
- Candidate domains generated
- 21
- Domains retained in consensus and converted into items
- 13
Original publication
International development of a lupus-specific instrument to assess cognitive symptoms in patients with SLE: Lupus Brain Fog Severity Scale (LBFSS) study. Lupus Sci Med. Published 13 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →