RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between neruopsychiatric manifestations and auto-antibodies in patients with neruopsychiatric lupus. METHODS: 233 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who were admitted or visited Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital from January 1993 to March 1996 were included in this study. The medical records of this group were reviewed in detail according to a predefined protocol with special emphasis upon any neruopsychiatric manifestations of the illness. RESULTS: 1) Among patients with SLE, 45(20.1%) had neruopsychiatric manifestations during the course of the disease. 2) The positivity of anticardiolipin antibody and antiribosomal P antibody is more frequent in neruopsychiatric group than that of non-neruopsychiatric lupus(56.3% vs. 22.9%, 44.1% vs. 21.5%, respectively, p<0.05). 3) The frequency of anticardiolipin antibody and lupus anticoagulant is more frequent in thrombotic group than that of non-thrombotic group(69.2% vs. 26.3%, 50.0% vs. 12.1%, respectively, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that investigation of the autoantibodies such as anticardiolipin antibody, antiribosomal P antibody, and lupus anticoagulant may be useful for early detection and management of SLE patients who have neruopsychiatric manifestations.
