Clinical analysis of autoimmune hemolytic anemia in systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the clinical and serological characteristics of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.Methods Seventeen patients were studied who had clinical features of AIHA among 222 hospitalized SLE patients in the Department of Rheumatology of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital were studied.Among the SLE patients without AIHA,34 patients were chosen by random sampling as controls.The patients' demographic data,clinical manifestations,laboratory test results and other examinations were analyzed retrospectively.Student's t test was used for the comparison of continuous variables,and chi-square test was used for the comparison of proportions.Results The prevalence of AIHA was 7.6％ in cohort of lupus patients.The positive rate of IgG anticardiolipin antibody in the AIHA group was significantly higher than that in the control group (71％ vs 15％,x2=15.366,P＜0.01 ).The occurrence of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome between the two groups had no statistical significant difference (x2=0.000,P=1.000).The frequencies of arthritis (12％,x2=4.554,P=0.033),malar rash (6％,x2=4.443,P=0.033),leukocytopenia (12％,x2=8.061,P=0.005) and lymphocytopenia (41％,x2=5.075,P=0.024) were lower in the AIHA group than those in the control group.Three patients in the AIHA group had alveolar hemorrhage in the course of SLE,while there was none in the control group (x2=3.586,P=0.058).Conclusion When lupus patients with AIHA are compared with those without AIHA,the positive rate of anticardiolipin antibody is higher,but the occurrence of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome does not increase in SLE patients with AIHA.And the frequencies of arthritis,malar rash,leukocytopenia and lymphocytopenia are lower in those patients with AIHA,however,patients with AIHA are prone to develop alveolar hemorrhage.