The nature and prevalence of neuropsychological impairment in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

To examine the nature and prevalence of neuropsychological impairment in sy stemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the neuropsychological performance of 88 consecutive SLE patients was compared with that of 47 proportionally matche d, healthy controls. Analysis of covariance, with estimated premorbid intel lectual ability as a covariate, showed that SLE patients performed signific antly more poorly than controls on verbal memory. visual memory, visuoperce ptual organization, visuomotor coordination and integration, attention and concentration, cognitive flexibility and verbal fluency. No significant dif ferences in neuropsychological performance were found between patients with present or previous neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE (NPSLE), and pa tients without any history of NPSLE. This may suggest subclinical nervous s ystem involvement in patients without a history of NPSLE. The prevalence of neuropsychological impairment in the total SLE group, determined by means of discriminant analysis to partition those patients who performed worse th an 95% of the healthy controls, was 69.9%.