This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Uthman, I W Articles by Masri, A-F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Uthman, I W Articles by Masri, A-F. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Lupus nephritis in Lebanon

Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; American University of Beirut, Medical Center, PO Box 113-6044, Beirut, Lebanon iuthman{at}aub.edu.lb

A A Muffarij

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

W A Mudawar

F W Nasr

A-FM Masri

Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

This is a retrospective study of the clinicopathological characteristics of 50 systemic lupus erythematosus patients with nephritis who underwent a kidney biopsy and were admitted to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, in Lebanon, between 1979 and 1999. There were 43 females and seven males, with a median age of 24 y. Renal histology slides from these patients were assessed according to the World Health Organization classification, and were distributed as follows: class I (n = 3, 6%); class II (n = 14, 28%); class III (n = 11, 22%); class IV (n = 19, 38%); class V (n = 1, 2%); class VI (n = 2, 4%). All the patients received oral prednisone, in addition the following treatments were used: pulse intravenous (IV) cyclophosphamide (n = 23, 46%); azathioprine (n = 22, 44%); pulse IV steroids (n = 19, 38%); chloroquine sulfate (n = 17, 34%); methotrexate (n = 5, 10%); and plasmapheresis (n = 2, 4%). The median duration of follow-up was 5 y (range 1-33 y). On their last evaluation, out of 37 patients who were followed, 20 patients (54%) had controlled disease, eight patients (22%) were still on active medical treatment, four patients (11%) were on chronic hemodialysis, and five patients (13%) had died. Unlike three other Arab populations studies from Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, where the most frequent histopathologic abnormality was class III, diffuse proliferative LN (class IV) was the most common type of lupus nephritis in Lebanon, similarly to reports from USA, France, Netherlands, South Africa, Thailand and Taiwan.

Key Words: systemic lupus erythematosus • Lebanon • nephritis • ethnicity

Lupus, Vol. 10, No. 5, 378-381 (2001)
DOI: 10.1191/096120301670808045


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?