Evaluation of damage index and it's association to risk factors in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

To determine the frequency of damage index in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) and the association between damage index and disease severity, flare up numbers, disease duration and anti-phospholipid antibodies. Eighty SLE patients were included. The damage was measured using the SLICC (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics)/ACR damage index (SDI). The disease flare was defined by the increase in the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K). The disease severity surrogates were the presence of class III/IV glomerulonephritis, the presence of severe central nervous system (CNS) involvement and cyclophosphamide administration.Analysis was performed by independent student-t and chi square tests in SPSS16 software was used for the analysis. There were significant association between the damage accrual and the disease severity, flare up and anti-phospholipid antibodies (p = 0.001, p = 0.004, p = 0.05 respectively). The disease severity, frequency of flares and positive anti-phospholipid antibodies are associated with damage accrual.