Do clinical manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Pakistan correlate with rest of Asia?
OBJECTIVE
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is known to be different among people with different racial, geographical and socio-economic back grounds. Asia has diverse ethnic groups broadly, Orientals in the East and Southeast Asia, Indians in South Asia and Arabs in the Middle East. These regions differ significantly from the Caucasians with reference to SLE. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to delineate the clinical pattern and disease course in Pakistani patients with SLE and compare it with Asian data.


METHODS
Patients with SLE fulfilling the clinical and laboratory criteria of the American Rheumatism Association admitted at the Aga Khan University Hospital between 1986 and 2001 were studied by means of a retrospective review of their records. The results were compared with various studies in different regions of Asia.


RESULTS
Demographically, it was seen that SLE is a disease predominantly of females in their third decade, which is generally consistent with Asian data. There was less cutaneous manifestations, arthritis, serositis, haematological and renal involvement compared to various regions in Asia. The neurological manifestations of SLE, however, place Pakistani patients in the middle of a spectrum between South Asians and other Asian races.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has shown that the clinical characteristics of SLE patients in our country may be different to those of other Asian races. Although our population is similar to South Asians, but clinical manifestations of our SLE patients are considerably different, suggesting some unknown etiology. Further studies are required to confirm the above results and to find statistically sounder associations.
Rabbani
Malik Anas
MA
Department of Medicine, the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.
Siddiqui
Bilal Karim
BK
Tahir
Muhammad Hammad
MH
Ahmad
Bushra
B
Shamim
A
A
Majid
Shahid
S
Ali
Syed Sohail
SS
Shah
Syed Mansoor Ahmed
SM
Ahmad
Aasim
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies