Author(s)

Maria do Socorro Teixeira Moreira Almeida¹, Catarina Fernandes Pires¹, João Vicente Moreira Almeida²

¹Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Brazil.
²Hospital of the Federal University of Piauí, Piauí, Brazil.

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the autoimmune disease with the highest prevalence of pulmonary involvement, which ranges from 20% to 90% of the patients, depending on the criteria employed in the cohorts being studied (symptomatology or histopathology). More than 50% of the patients develop pleuropulmonary manifestations at least once during the course of the disease; likewise, pleuropulmonary involvement has been associated with a higher rate of mortality. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of respiratory symptoms, and abnormal lung function in a sample of Brazilian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Retrospective study of 55 SLE patients from a single Rheumatology Unit in Brazil; the patients fulfilling the ACR criteria for SLE. Demographics and clinical characteristics were recorded and the patients were evaluated using chest X-rays, pulmonary function tests (PFTs), and HRCT of the chest to find out the pulmonary involvement. Results: Thirty-two patients had respiratory symptoms, 45 (82%) patients had abnormal lung function, 25 (45.4%) patients had abnormal computed tomography and 20 (36.4%) patients had abnormal chest X-ray. Conclusion: Respiratory symptoms and abnormal lung function are common in SLE. Clinicians should consider pulmonary evaluation among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus with and without respiratory symptoms.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Pulmonary Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Autoimune Diseases

Almeida, M. do S.T.M., Pires, C.F. and Almeida, J.V.M. (2022) Lung in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Single-Center Experience. Open Access Library Journal, 9, 1-9. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1109248.