Tariq Albeshri*, Nouf Alghofaili, Samaher Ismail, Sarah Aljabri, Aghssan Aghashami, Reem Hafiz, Mohammad Khojah, Yara Alqurashi
Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) is an autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease with multisystemic involvement. It is chronic, systemic, and multisystemic. An individual who is affected by this disease experiences tissue-binding antibodies and immune complexes that cause damage to their organs and cells. The prevalence of neuropsychiatric and renal illnesses in men was greater than in women, as were the rates of peripheral vascular disease, myocardial infarction, and disability.
Objective: This study aimed to improve the understanding of SLE patients by characterizing the different sexes of SLE patients in the inception in male and various clinical manifestations of the disease, disease severity and immunological results and to recognize the different pattern of the disease between male and female patient.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among Systemic Lupus Erythematous adult patients from 2020 to 2022 in King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Ministry of Defense and Aviation (MODA). Data was collected from medical records. Patterns of diseases, clinical manifestations, disease severity and immunological lab results were compared through the mentioned database. Then data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0.
Results: About 114 of the participants enrolled in the current study. 92 (80.7%) of the participants were females and the rest 22 (19.3%) were males. The mean age was 41.5 with standard deviation of 13.6 (41.5 ± 13.6) and range of 15 years-81 years old. The mean age at time of the diagnosis was 33.3 ± 13.1 (10 years-81 years) years old. Time between onset of the disease and diagnosis was more than 3 months in 79 (69.3%) of the participants and less than 3 months in 35 (30.7%) of the participants. The most frequently reported co-morbidity was found to be hypertension in (20.2%) of the participants. Hypothyroidism in (14.9%) of the participants, diabetes mellitus in (12.3%) of the participants. Fever and weight loss were not found to be significantly associated with gender (p-value=0.926 and 0.518 respectively). No statistically significant association found between the following; non-sacaring alopecia, oral ulcers, malar rash, discoid rash, Raynaud phenomenon, photosensitivity and gender (p-value=0.053, 0.190, 0.254, 0.560, 0.684 and 0.744 respectively). Lupus nephritis was found to be significantly associated with gender (p-value=0.008) with males tend to develop lupus nephritis more frequently than females. Delirium, psychosis and seizure were not found to be significantly associated with gender. Positive Anti Ro (SSA) was found to be significantly associated with gender (p-value=0.004) with females having tested positive for anti Ro (SSA) antibodies more frequently than males. The most common medication used was found to be hydroxychloroquine as reported in 109 (95.6%) of the participants followed by corticosteroids in 75 (65.8%) of the participants.
Conclusion: Lupus nephritis was found to be more frequently reported in males compared to females. Hypertension was the most frequent co-morbidy in patients with SLE. Hydroxychloroquine is the drug of choice which used by the vast majority of respondents
