Clinical and immunological characteristics in 552 systemic lupus erythematosus patients in a southern province of China

Aim: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Hakka populations. Methods: We studied the demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics in a cohort of 552 SLE patients diagnosed at the Rheumatology Department in MeiZhou People's Hospital from January 2008 to December 2012. There were 495 women and 57 men (8.7 : 1) with a mean age of 35.3 years (range 12-78 years). The mean age at disease onset and the mean disease duration were 31.8 +/- 14.4 years and 3.3 +/- 2.8 years, respectively. Results: The most common clinical manifestations were arthritis (61.6%), followed by malar rash (52.7%), photosensitivity (22.8%), mouth ulcers (17.0%) and discoid lupus (14.7%). The prevalence was 46.7% for nephritis ( by biopsy), 18.3% for pleuritis, 15.6% for pericarditis and 4.9% for neuropsychiatric manifestations. The most common hematological manifestations were anemia (63.8%), followed by leucopenia (29.0%) and thrombocytopenia (14.9%). Antinuclear antibodies were detected in 99.8% of patients, followed by anti-double- stranded DNA (81.3%), anti-SSA ( Sjogren's syndrome antigen A)/Ro (58.7%), anti-ribonucleoprotein (36.8%), anti-Sm (35.7%), and anti-SSB/La (15.0%). Anti-cardiolipin immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM were detected in18.3% and 14.1% of patients, respectively. Active disease and infections were the two major causes of death. Conclusion: The clinical and immunological characteristics of the SLE patients in our study place our population in the middle of the spectrum between other Asian and Caucasian populations.