title: Rheumatic manifestations in brazilian patients with AIDS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) may have rheumatic complaints such as arthritis and arthralgia, dry eyes, increased salivary glands, lower back pain, enthesitis etc. Autoantibodies like ANA (antinuclear antibody) and RF (rheumatoid factor) may also be present.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the prevalence of rheumatic complaints in AIDS patients and correlate them with the presence of ANA and RF.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 69 patients with AIDS (28.9% women and 71.0% men) with a mean age of 40.8 ± 8.9 years, median disease duration of 60 months, for rheumatic complaints, ANA, ENA-6 (anti-Ro, anti-La, anti-Sm, anti-RNP, anti-Scl70 and anti-Jo1) and RF. We collected demographic data, CD4+ and CD8+ cell count and values of viral load.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Arthralgia was present in 39.1%, sicca symptoms in 21.7%, inflammatory lumbar pain in 13.4%, enthesopathy in 6.6%, parotid enlargement in 1.4%, RF in 10.1% and ANA in 8.6%. All patients were negative for ENA-6. ANA was more common in older patients (p = 0.03) and in those with higher viral load (p = 0.006). No association was found with the presence of RF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most common manifestation in this context was arthralgia. ANA presence was associated with age of the patients and viral load.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Telles
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azevedo Grande
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jurgensen
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hecke
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skare
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Nisihara
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Camargo
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*