Assessment of damage in Korean patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of systemic damage in Korean patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to elucidate associations between possible risk factors and the presence of damage.


METHODS
The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index (SDI) was used to quantify systemic damage in 588 patients who were enrolled consecutively at the Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Seoul, South Korea. The frequencies and means of each variable were compared using the chi-square test or Student t test between the presence and absence of damage. Multivariate models were used to investigate the relationship between possible risk factors (age, disease duration, and use of intravenous cyclophosphamide) and the presence of damage.


RESULTS
Among the 588 patients, 244 (41.5%) exhibited damage at a mean of 54 months after onset of disease. The musculoskeletal (14.3% of patients) and renal (13.3%) systems were involved most frequently, followed by neuropsychiatric (10.7%), ocular (4.6%), and pulmonary (4.1%) system involvement. The presence of damage was associated with higher age, longer disease duration, and a high frequency of intravenous cyclophosphamide use.


CONCLUSIONS
Systemic damage in at least one of the items of the SDI was present in 41.5% of our Korean patients with SLE, this damage being significantly more prevalent in patients who were older, had longer disease duration, and received more intravenous pulses of cyclophosphamide.
Sung
Yoon-Kyoung
YK
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, and Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
Hur
Nam Wook
NW
Sinskey
Jina Lee
JL
Park
Dawon
D
Bae
Sang-Cheol
SC
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D015897:Comorbidity; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D003520:Cyclophosphamide