title: Clinical and immunological manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus: study on 146 south Tunisian patients.
abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the main clinical and laboratory features as well as the morbidity and mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in a population of patients predominantly from the south of Tunisia. A retrospective review of a well documented population of 146 patients with SLE was undertaken. All patients fulfilled four or more criteria defined by the American College of Rheumatology. The mean age at presentation was 29.2 years (range 6-55) and the mean duration of follow-up was 62 months (range 0.25-374). Musculoskeletal (84.2%) and mucocutaneous (75.3%) were the most frequent clinical manifestations. Antinuclear antibodies were detected in 97.3%, anti-DNA antibodies in 69.2% and anti-Sm in 39.2% of the patients. Anti-cardiolipin antibodies and lupus anticoagulant were ob-served respectively in 71.6% and 37.8% of the patients. The five-year survival rate in our series was 92%. Renal involvement and thrombocytopenia were associated with poor prognosis (p< 0.05). The clinical and immunological characteristics of our SLE patients are largely comparable to most major studies. Main differences included prominent major organ damage and high pre-valence of anti-Sm and anti-cardiolipin antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia. jallouli5moez@voila.fr
authors.forename: Moez
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jallouli
authors.forename: Makram
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frigui
authors.forename: Mohamed Ben
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hmida
authors.forename: Sameh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marzouk
authors.forename: Neila
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaddour
authors.forename: Zouheir
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bahloul
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014416:Tunisia; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear