A. Almekaimi et al., SEROLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS-ERYTHEMATOSUS FROM A HOSPITAL-BASED RHEUMATOLOGY CLINIC IN KUWAIT, Lupus, 6(8), 1997, pp. 668-674
Thirty-one consecutive patients with SLE were screened for antinuclear
antibody (ANA), anti-DNA antibodies, extractable nuclear antigen anti
bodies (anti-ENAs) including anti-Sm, anti-RNP, anti-SSA (anti-Re), an
ti-SSB; (anti-La), anti-Scl-70, rheumatoid factor (RF), C-reactive pro
tein (CRP), C3 and C4 levels, anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL), biolo
gically false positive serological test for syphilis (BF-STS) using VD
RL test and Coombs' test. The age of the patients ranged from 11 to 52
year with a median of 29 year; female to male ratio of 5:1. There wer
e 21 Kuwaitis, four Egyptians, three from the Indian subcontinent, two
Filipinos and one Syrian. Main clinical categories of SLE were mild c
utaneous SLE in 12 (38.7%), clinical antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) s
econdary to SLE in 8 (25.8%), haematological manifestations of SLE in
5 (16.1%), renal lupus in four (12.9%), neuropsychiatric in three (9.7
%), others (6.4%). Clinical features overlapped in several patients. A
NA was positive in 96.8% (mean value 891.61 units/ml), anti-DNA in 35.
5% (mean value 56.4 units) that was lower than expected and could be d
ue to selection bias as the patients were from a rheumatology clinic,
anti-ENA in 42%, anti-Sm 13% that was lower than other non-Caucasian p
opulations, anti-RNP 13%, anti-SS-A in 35.5%, anti-SS-B in 19.4%, Scl-
70 in 13%, CRP in 71% (moderate 58%, very high 13%); C3 mean 1.52 mg/m
l (3.2% low levels), C4 mean 0.35 mg/ml (32% low levels), anticardioli
pin mean GPL 35.35 units (high 58%), mean MPL 10.61 units (high 26%),
BF-STS in 6%, Coombs' test in 6%, RF positive in 36%. The only signifi
cant positive clinical associations observed were those of renal invol
vement with anti-DNA antibodies (P=0.042), and clinical antiphospholip
id antibody syndrome with aCL antibodies (P=<0.05).