Study of clinical, laboratory and immunological characteristics of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus

ABSTRACT

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an unknown cause chronic autoimmune disorder which characterized by the spread of the lesion in many organs of body. Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus is often more acute and severe than adult-onset systemic lupus erythematosus. Objective: 1. To survey clinical, laboratory and immunological symptoms of childhood-onset SLE. 2. To survey immune disorders of childhood-onset SLE. Subjects and method: A retrospective study on clinical, laboratory and immunological indexes was carried out in 29 patients with childhood-onset SLE admitted in the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunity, Bach Mai hospital, from June/2001 to June/2006.Results: The female to male ratio was 13.51, and the mean age at disease onset was 12.3\xb12.4 years. The most common initial manifestations were arthritis (62.1%), malar or butterfly rash (41.4%), fatigue, malaise, weight loss (41.4%) and fever (38%). The most common manifestations in the advanced stage of the disease were arthritis (82.8%), alopecia (62.1%), nephritis (89.7), anemia (72.4%), leucopenia (58.6%), thrombocytopenia (51.7%), neurological disorders (58.6%), fever (55.2%) and malar rash (48.3%). 93.1% of the patients had elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The rates of patients with ANA, anti ds-DNA antibody and LE cells were 88%, 64%, and 10.5%, respectively. Conclusion: The author recommended that on the suspicious cases, necessary tests for detecting childhood onset SLE should be conducted soon for differential diagnosis. The SLE with onset in childhood, often more severe than later life must be aggressively treated.