Clinical and Immunological Profile of Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematous presenting to AIIMS Patna

Abstract

Introduction: SLE is a disorder that shows marked geographical variation in its clinical manifestations, immunological markers, and pathological findings. Owing to the differential expression of both clinical and histopathological manifestations of SLE with respect to geography, it is important to have data about the same from different regions. There is a paucity of data from the eastern part of Bharat (India). This study is a small attempt to address the issue.

Methods: This is a hospital-based observational, cross-sectional study done on patients with SLE diagnosed by SLICC criteria and presenting to AIIMS Patna. The primary objective of the study was to find out the proportions of different clinical manifestations of SLE in the study population. The secondary objective was to find out the pattern of antibody profile in these patients.

Results: The median age of the study participants was 27 (range 16-53). The majority of the study participants were female (97.7%). Renal involvement (88.8%) was the most common manifestation, followed by musculoskeletal manifestation (71.1%), fever (66.7%), mucocutaneous manifeatation (62.2%), malar rash (53.3%), alopecia (55.6%), serositis (48.9%), discoid rash (15.6%), and neurological manifestation (17.7%).

The ANA screening result was available for 40 patients. Speckled and homogeneous patterns were seen in 52.5% and 50.0%, respectively. Out of the 41 patients who underwent tests for ANA profile, anti-SmD1, anti-histone, and anti-dsDNA were the most frequent antibodies, with frequencies being 70.7%, 68.3%, and 65.8%, respectively. Anti-U1snRNP (56.1%), anti-Ku (56.1%), anti-Ro 60 (51.2%), and anti-Nucleosome antibody (48.8%) were the other commonly detected antibodies.

Conclusion: Renal involvement was the commonest clinical manifestation, while anti-SmD1 was the commonest extractable nuclear antigen antibody in the study population.