Of the more than 1,800 patients followed in our multi-ethnic longitudinal study, more than 8% experienced some type of PNS disease. —John Hanly, MD, FRCPC
Quality of Life Affected
“These aren’t minimal events,” Dr. Hanly stressed. “Patients who experience these symptoms report a lower quality of life and physical function, even when we took other factors into account.”
Although Dr. Hanly notes that, encouragingly, PNS symptoms resolved over time with appropriate treatment, but patients who were diagnosed with SLE at an older age, had previous neuropathy or more SLE disease activity experienced a longer recovery.
As a result, Dr. Hanly says it’s reasonable to request a neurological exam for older SLE patients who may be at risk of PNS.
“Although not all PNS manifestations occur due to lupus, we found that most do,” Dr. Hanly says. “While this is a challenging aspect of lupus, the good news is that a substantial number of patients improved with appropriate care.”
Dr. Hanly hopes the results from this study will provide a benchmark for the assessment of future treatments.
Italian Study Supports Findings
Another recent study, “Peripheral Nervous System Involvement in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Retrospective Study on Prevalence, Associated Factors and Outcome,” conducted by Italian researchers, looked at SLE patient records from two referral centers between 2000 and 2014.2
As in Dr. Hanly’s study, researchers confirmed that damage accrual and advanced age are potential risk factors for PNS in lupus patients.
The researchers found that out of 1,224 patients, PNS was experienced in 85 patients, primarily women. Ninety-seven PNS events in total were reported. In two cases PNS occurred before the diagnosis of SLE, in 26 patients PNS manifestations took place at the onset of the disease, and in 57 patients PNS occurred more than three months after an SLE diagnosis.
The study also determined that high blood pressure and livedo reticularis may be risk factors for PNS in lupus patients. Smoking, secondary Sjögren’s syndrome and diabetes were also more commonly found in patients with PNS.
Linda Childers is a health writer located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
References
- Hanly JG, Li Q, Su L, et al. Peripheral nervous system disease in systemic lupus erythematosus: Results from an international inception cohort study. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020 Jan;72(1):67–77.
- Bortoluzzi A, Piga M, Silvagni E, et al. Peripheral nervous system involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus: A retrospective study on prevalence, associated factors and outcome. Lupus. 2019 Apr;28(4):465–474.
