THE CLINICAL-FEATURES AND PROGNOSIS OF MALE LUPUS IN TAIWAN

Our objective was to describe the clinical manifestations, laboratory data, and prognosis in male Chinese lupus patients in Taiwan. Seventy- two male lupus patients, diagnosed and followed in Tri-Service General Hospital between 1953 aad 1996, were studied and their clinical data analyzed, retrospectively. The mean age at diagnosis was 34 +/- 16 y ( mean+/-s.d., range: 13-82 y). The peak incidence of age at diagnosis w as between 13 and 40 years. The three most frequent clinical manifesta tions were renal disease, 75%; malar rash, 61%; and arthritis, 53%. Th e three most frequent abnormal laboratory findings were anti-nuclear a ntibodies (ANA), 97%: hypocomplementemia, 76%: and anti-ds DNA, 57%. T he 1-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates were 85%, 76%, and 75%, respecti vely. In summary, a higher frequency of renal disease, malar rash and photosensitivity, but a lower frequency of arthritis and lymphadenopat hy were demonstrated in our 72 ethnic Chinese male Taiwanese lupus pat ients compared to previous reports of Caucasians. The prognosis seems to be similar to that of both Chinese and Caucasian males but seems to be poor when compared to either Chinese or Caucasian female lupus pat ients.