A CLINICAL STUDY ON NONSPECIFIC MUCOCUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS & ITS ASSOCIATION WITH SYSTEMIC INVOLVEMENT

Abstract

Background : Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune connective tissue disorder which presents with multiple mucocutaneous manifestations along with various internal organ involvement. Skin manifestation may be either specic or nonspecic. At times, they could be an indicator of internal disease activity. To estimate the prevalence and pattern of the nonspecic mucocutaneous manifestations in Aims and objective : systemic lupus erythematosus and association with internal organ involvement. Materials and methods : This is a cross sectional study and hospital based, done at Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai Medical College, Madurai over a period of 6 months from July 2020 to December 2020. Newly diagnosed patients are selected according to 2012 SLICC criteria and all relevant investigations were carried out. Results : A total of 23 patients were studied and the female to male ratio was 9:1. The mean of onset of the disease is 32 years and belonged to the age group of 4th decade of life. Almost all the patients had specic skin lesions and nonspecic skin lesions were observed in 80% of them (n=18). The common non specic manifestation was palmar erythema (n=7) followed by telogen efuvium in 4 patients. Small vessel vasculitis was observed in 3 patients. Livedo reticularis, sclerodactyly and urticaria were seen in 2 patients each. Features of erythromelalgia, raynauds phenomenon, PAN like vasculitis, alopecia areata, erythema nodosum & rheumatoid nodule were seen in 1 patient each. Musculoskeletal involvement is seen in majority of the patients (n=15). A strong association with signicant p value was seen between palmar erythema and renal involvement. A thorough knowledge of the various cutaneous manifestations, both Conclusion: specic and nonspecic is necessary for the early diagnosis of the disease, which in turn will help in controlling & preventing the progression of the disease. In addition some of the nonspecic cutaneous lesions can be the clinical marker of systemic association. Further studies with large sample size are needed to conrm it which are the limitations in our study.