SLE IN INDIAN MEN - ANALYSIS OF THE CLINICAL AND LABORATORY FEATURES WITH A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Data on the clinical and laboratory profile of 39 male lupus patients has been analysed. An attempt has been made to (1) delineate the patte rn of SLE in Indian males, (2) compare it with that reported in the wo rld literature. (3) and out differences. if any, between male children and adults with the disease, and (4) compare it with our previously p ublished data on Indian females with SLE. Several important points wer e brought out in this study. First. SLE in Indian males has an earlier age of disease onset, a higher incidence of mucocutaneous and renal i nvolvement and a lower incidence of neuropsychiatric. gastrointestinal and hematological disease in comparison to those published from the d eveloped countries. Second, leucopenia and lymphopenia, a reflection o f disease severity, occur significantly more in male children compared with adults. Thrombocytopenia is exclusively noted in adult males and virtually non-existent in children. Third, male patients overall have a less severe form of the disease in comparison with their female cou nterpart, as was evident by significantly less patients with hypocompl ementemia, diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis and psychosis. Finall y, a higher frequency of infection. particularly tuberculosis, was see n in male patients, which was the cause of death in some.