Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review

Abstract This systematic review sought to understand the types of quality of life or clinical outcome measures currently being utilised for autoimmune encephalitis (AE) patients to determine whether the current measured outcomes accurately represented the full disease burden of AE. This included how...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Leonard Lee, Jovi Leung, Brendan Min-Wei Chan, Joshua Byrnes, Hansoo Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-06-01
Series:Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-025-03837-7
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849334573751599104
author Leonard Lee
Jovi Leung
Brendan Min-Wei Chan
Joshua Byrnes
Hansoo Kim
author_facet Leonard Lee
Jovi Leung
Brendan Min-Wei Chan
Joshua Byrnes
Hansoo Kim
author_sort Leonard Lee
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This systematic review sought to understand the types of quality of life or clinical outcome measures currently being utilised for autoimmune encephalitis (AE) patients to determine whether the current measured outcomes accurately represented the full disease burden of AE. This included how the measures were being used (e.g., time point utilised, as an endpoint or as a categorisation method), and what the recorded measures were. The review included all studies that fulfilled the population criteria, which included probable AE. A search conducted on the 24th of June 2024 on PubMed and Embase returned 302 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of the 302, the most commonly used measures were the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) being utilised in 90.07% of studies, followed by Clinical Assessment Scale in Autoimmune Encephalitis (CASE) at 15.56%, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at 7.95%, and finally Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) at 4.97%. The most common phenotype in the literature was NMDA AE, with 208 studies (68.87%) investigating this cohort. There was significant heterogeneity in the application of measures, such as definitional differences (e.g., a good outcome defined as an mRS of < 1 for some papers, but < 2 for others), utilising measures at differing time points within the disease course of an individual, and the inconsistent reporting of key information, such as comorbidities that may impact the measures being used. This review found the current clinical measures do not holistically encompass the disease burden of AE, with current clinical measures experiencing deficiencies in capturing the effect of AE on sleep and psychosocial function. It is recommended that future studies utilise symptom onset as a standardised time metric, and either a combination of currently available measures, or the creation or validation of new methods to capture disease burden in AE patients.
format Article
id doaj-art-b80f6c4e84d44a3992d683eec02be58c
institution Kabale University
issn 1750-1172
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
spelling doaj-art-b80f6c4e84d44a3992d683eec02be58c2025-08-20T03:45:32ZengBMCOrphanet Journal of Rare Diseases1750-11722025-06-0120111110.1186/s13023-025-03837-7Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic reviewLeonard Lee0Jovi Leung1Brendan Min-Wei Chan2Joshua Byrnes3Hansoo Kim4Centre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith UniversityFaculty of Medicine, University of QueenslandFaculty of Medicine and Health, University of SydneyCentre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith UniversityCentre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith UniversityAbstract This systematic review sought to understand the types of quality of life or clinical outcome measures currently being utilised for autoimmune encephalitis (AE) patients to determine whether the current measured outcomes accurately represented the full disease burden of AE. This included how the measures were being used (e.g., time point utilised, as an endpoint or as a categorisation method), and what the recorded measures were. The review included all studies that fulfilled the population criteria, which included probable AE. A search conducted on the 24th of June 2024 on PubMed and Embase returned 302 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of the 302, the most commonly used measures were the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) being utilised in 90.07% of studies, followed by Clinical Assessment Scale in Autoimmune Encephalitis (CASE) at 15.56%, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at 7.95%, and finally Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) at 4.97%. The most common phenotype in the literature was NMDA AE, with 208 studies (68.87%) investigating this cohort. There was significant heterogeneity in the application of measures, such as definitional differences (e.g., a good outcome defined as an mRS of < 1 for some papers, but < 2 for others), utilising measures at differing time points within the disease course of an individual, and the inconsistent reporting of key information, such as comorbidities that may impact the measures being used. This review found the current clinical measures do not holistically encompass the disease burden of AE, with current clinical measures experiencing deficiencies in capturing the effect of AE on sleep and psychosocial function. It is recommended that future studies utilise symptom onset as a standardised time metric, and either a combination of currently available measures, or the creation or validation of new methods to capture disease burden in AE patients.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-025-03837-7Autoimmune encephalitis (AE)Quality of life (QoL)Disease burdenSystemic review
spellingShingle Leonard Lee
Jovi Leung
Brendan Min-Wei Chan
Joshua Byrnes
Hansoo Kim
Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases
Autoimmune encephalitis (AE)
Quality of life (QoL)
Disease burden
Systemic review
title Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
title_full Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
title_fullStr Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
title_short Investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis: a systematic review
title_sort investigating health related quality of life and clinical measures in autoimmune encephalitis a systematic review
topic Autoimmune encephalitis (AE)
Quality of life (QoL)
Disease burden
Systemic review
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-025-03837-7
work_keys_str_mv AT leonardlee investigatinghealthrelatedqualityoflifeandclinicalmeasuresinautoimmuneencephalitisasystematicreview
AT jovileung investigatinghealthrelatedqualityoflifeandclinicalmeasuresinautoimmuneencephalitisasystematicreview
AT brendanminweichan investigatinghealthrelatedqualityoflifeandclinicalmeasuresinautoimmuneencephalitisasystematicreview
AT joshuabyrnes investigatinghealthrelatedqualityoflifeandclinicalmeasuresinautoimmuneencephalitisasystematicreview
AT hansookim investigatinghealthrelatedqualityoflifeandclinicalmeasuresinautoimmuneencephalitisasystematicreview