A. Gedalia et al., Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: A comparative study of African Americans and Latin Americans, J NAT MED A, 91(9), 1999, pp. 497-501
This study compared the clinical and serologic features in two different et
hnic groups of patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (
SLE). One hundred seventy-one SLE patients comprised the study population;
61 (55 girls and 6 boys) were African American with age at onset of 13+/-2.
9 years, and 110 (97 girls and 13 boys) were Latin American (Colombian) wit
h age at onset of 13+/-3.2 years. Clinical, demographic, and laboratory dat
a were obtained by chart review using a standard data collection form.
African-American patients more commonly manifested discoid skin lesions, ma
lar rash, pulmonary fibrosis, and pleuritis, and less commonly manifested p
hotosensitivity, livedo reticularis, and vascular thrombosis than did Latin
Americans. In addition, there was a higher frequency of anti-dsDNA, anti-S
m, anti-RNP, and anti-Re positivity among African-Americans compared with L
atin-American patients. These results suggest the presence of ethnic differ
ences in the clinical expression of SLE.