Introduction Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease that can vary among different ethnic and racial groups. Objective The objective of this paper is to study the prevalence of various manifestations of SLE in a sample of the Egyptian population. Patients and methods Information in this study was derived from the medical records of SLE patients who sought medical advice at a private clinic in Cairo from January 1980 to June 2016. Results This study included 1109 SLE patients, of whom 114 (10.3%) were males and 995 were females (89.7%). Mean age of onset was 25.89 ± 10.81 years, while the median of disease duration from the onset of the disease till the last recorded visit was 26 months. The most common cumulative manifestations were arthritis (76.7%), malar rash (48.5%), leukopenia (45.7%), and photosensitivity (45.6%). A total of 33.1% of the patients had nephritis, and neuropsychiatric lupus was present in 6.4% of the patients. Secondary antiphospholipid syndrome was present in 11.5% of the patients. Antinuclear antibody and anti-double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid were present in 1060/1094 (96.9%) and 842/1062 (79.3%) of the patients, respectively. Antiphospholipid antibodies were present in 266/636 (41.8%) of the patients, anti-Smith in 54/240 (22.5%), anti-SSA/Ro in 61/229 (20.4%), and anti-SSB/La in 32/277 (11.6%) of the patients. Male patients had a statistically higher prevalence of nephritis ( p = 0.01), whereas arthritis and alopecia were statistically higher in females ( p = 0.012 and p = 0.006, respectively). Patients with juvenile onset had a statistically higher prevalence of nephritis and seizures ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.012, respectively). Conclusions Arthritis and malar rash represented the most common clinical manifestations. Male and juvenile-onset patients had a predilection toward a more severe disease. These results are in agreement with many studies conducted in the Middle East and worldwide. On the other hand, major organ involvement was exceptionally low, which is contradictory to several reports from the Middle East and across the globe.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease which affects all aspects of quality of life (QoL) of the patients. Comprehensive patient assessment should include QoL measures in addition to the objective clinical measures of the disease. There is no specific Arabic instrument for assessment of QoL of SLE patients. The objective of this study was to translate and cross culturally adapt the SLEQOL questionnaire into Arabic and test its reliability and validity. The SLEQOL questionnaire was translated into Arabic based on the Guidelines for Translation and Cross-cultural Adaptation into other languages. Reliability was assessed by interviewing patients three times: two interviews on the same day by different interviewers and the third interview 14 days later by one of the first interviewers. Validity was assessed by correlating SLEQOL scores of 91 patients with 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores and clinical parameters of the patients. We found that the Arabic version of SLEQOL has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.936, interobserver and intraobserver correlation coefficients of 0.809 and 0.886 respectively. Strong correlations were also found between SLEQOL scores and SF-36 Physical and Mental Component summaries. In conclusion, the Arabic version of SLEQOL is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring QoL of Egyptian SLE patients.

ObjectiveTo evaluate peripheral nerve involvement in patients with SLE with neuromuscular ultrasonography (NMUS) and understand its role in investigating SLE-related peripheral neuropathy.MethodsThis is an observational cross-sectional study on patients with SLE and healthy controls. Five nerves in each patient were examined bilaterally with NMUS, and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of each nerve at certain sites was estimated. The mean CSA at each site, for each nerve, in each group was statistically analysed and compared between groups.Results370 nerves were evaluated in 37 patients. By nerve conduction study (NCS), 36 patients had polyneuropathy (80.6% mixed type, 19.4% sensory). Significant mean CSA enlargement was present among the ulnar nerve at the Guyon’s canal and mid-humerus (both p=0.001); tibial nerve at the distal leg and proximal to the tarsal tunnel (p=0.003 and p=0.001, respectively); and peroneal nerve at the popliteal fossa (p=0.042). The mean CSA showed high specificity compared with NCS.ConclusionOur study shows that CSA could be a complementary tool to NCS for studying peripheral neuropathy in SLE. Furthermore, NMUS provides data on the different pathophysiological aspects of nerve involvement in SLE. Future studies using more than one sonographic parameter in combination with NCS and nerve histopathology are recommended to further investigate SLE-related neuropathy.Trial registration numberNCT04527172.

No abstract

No abstract