Abstract:
The university lupus research clinic follows up patients admitted or referred to the University Medical Unit with diagnosed or suspected SLE.Objectives: To find the number of patients in the lupus clinic with confirmed SLE, those with related diseases, visceral involvement, treatment, and out come. Methods: Data was collected on registering patients. They were followed up prospectively. This clinic has been functioning for 3 years and a preliminary analysis is presented. Results: There were 90 patients. 78 (87%) had a clinical diagnosis of SLE. Others had related auto-immune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, MCTD, auto-immune hepatitis, ITP etc). There were 6 patients(7%) with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS). Only 61 patients (78%) satisfied the American Rheumatological Association (ARA) criteria for diagnosis of SLE. 4 (7%) patients with SLE had overlap syndrome, and 2 had SLE with APS. The mean age of SLE patients was 32 years (range 16-58). There were 57 females (93%) and 4 males (7%). Mean duration of disease was 7 years (range
