The relationship between initial clinical manifestation and long-term prognosis of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

The relationship between clinical manifestations and prognosis was examined and evaluated among systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. A total of 542 patients with SLE were selected and divided into nine groups according to their main clinical manifestation at the time of initial diagnosis. The relationship between these clinical manifestations and long-term prognosis was evaluated in respect to the survival, remission, relapse rates, the development of a new clinical manifestation, and/or damage index. Patients with neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE), accompanied with acute confusional state/seizure disorder, cerebral vascular disease, or pneumonitis had poor survival rates with cause of death related to their major organ involvement. Patients with nephropathy or leukopenia had lower remission rates, and an increase in relapse rates was frequently recognized in patients with pneumonitis. Body damage (damage index) was higher in patients with lupus psychosis, pneumonitis, and/or arthritis. The translation of the main manifestations after diagnosis was confirmed in 64 patients (11.8%), and often observed in patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and arthritis. The majority of these manifestations were nephropathy, NPSLE, thrombocytopenia, and pneumonitis, and the prognosis of patients with nephropathy and thrombocytopenia as a new main manifestation had a poor outcome. The results of long-term prognosis in SLE greatly differed with respect to the initial clinical manifestation at the time of diagnosis.