Effect of patient's age on clinical manifestations and complications of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Abstract

[Summary]We attempted to clarify the effect of age on the clinical manifestations and complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). One hundred and forty two patients with SLE were classified into 3 groups according to their ages at the time of diagnosis.The number of patients of the 3 groups, younger onset group (less than 19 years old), common onset group (between 20 and 39 years old), and older onset group (more than 40 years old) was 27, 91 and 24, respectively. There was a higher incidence of malar rash, oral ulcers, fever elevation and renal disorder, especially nephrotic syndrome, in the younger onset group than in the other two groups. Serositis, particularly pericarditis, hypocomplementemia and anti-DNA antibody were also more frequent in the younger onset group compared with the other two groups.As for complications, although avascular bone .necrosis of femoral head is more frequent in the younger onset group, there was no significant difference in the incidences of herpes zoster and vascular thrombosis between the three groups. The response to the corticosteroid therapy and the prognosis were generally poorer in the younger onset group than in the other two groups. These data suggest that clinical manifestations and complications in younger patients with SLE differ from those in older patients.