Systemic lupus erythematosus in Asturias, Spain -: Clinical and serologic features

Asturias is an autonomous region in the north of Spain with historical and anthropologic peculiarities. In the current report, we examine the main clinical and immunologic features of 363 patients with systemic lupus erythernatosus (SLE), virtually the entire population of SLE patients in Asturias. We constructed a database with the clinical and immunologic features of all patients fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology criteria, based on the review of hospital records corresponding to blood samples received for antinuclear antibodies testing since 1992. Arthritis was the most frequently observed main clinical feature and neuropathy was the rarest. Male patients had a disease more frequently characterized by serositis (p < 0.05) and neurologic disorder (p < 0.01) than females, while children presented malar rash (p < 0.05), fever (p < 0.05), and kidney involvement (p < 0.01) more often than adults. Late-onset patients were characterized by lower frequencies of malar rash (p < 0.01), neurologic disorder (p < 0.05), alopecia (p < 0.01), and lymphadenopathy (p < 0.05) than young adults. Numerous direct and inverse significant associations were found among clinical and immunologic features. The most relevant significant associations were neurologic disorder with lupus anticoagulant (p < 0.01); kidney involvement with serositis (p < 0.01) and DNA antibodies (p < 0.05); and thrombosis with DNA antibodies (p < 0.05), cardiolipin antibodies (p < 0.01), and lupus anticoagulant (p < 0.01). A low mortality was found in our series, although kidney involvement (p < 0.05) and cardiolipin antibodies (p < 0.05) are factors associated with poor survival.