Frequency of Different Clinical Presentations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem, autoimmune, inflammatory disorder presenting with manifestations from various organ systems.

Objective: To determine the frequency of clinical presentations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus at tertiary care hospital

Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted during 21st October 2018 to 20th April 2019 in the Department of Medicine Civil Hospital Karachi. Total 143 diagnosed patients were included. All patients were evaluated for the initial clinical manifestations including clinical investigations at presentation, Ocular, Mucocutaneous, Pulmonary, Cardiovascular, Gastrointestinal, Musculoskeletal, Hematological, Renal, Neuro Psychiatric, Gynaecological. Descriptive statistics were calculated and stratification was done. Post stratification chi square test was applied. p value≤0.05 was taken as significant.

Results: There were 18.9% male and 81.1% female patient. Mean age was 32.36±9.92 years. Mean SLE duration was 8.16±2.22 months. 79.7% were married and 20.3% were unmarried. In this study among major findings, 52.4% patients were found with fever, 79% with fatigue, 79.7% with arthralgia, 66.4% with weakness, 71.3% with body ache, 35.7% with decreased appetite, 40.6% with headache, 60.1% with photosensitivity, 67.1% with malar rash, 67.1% with alopecia, 60.8% with oral ulcer, 52.4% with Raynaud’s phenomenon, 52.4% with nausea/vomiting, 33.6% with diarrhea, 31.5% with arthritis, 37.1% with muscle atrophy, 35.7% with osteoporotic fractures, 38.5% with hemolytic anemia.

Conclusion: In this study, majority of patients presented with combination of fever, fatigue, arthralgia, weakness, body ache, photosensitivity, and malar rash.