Polyautoimmunity in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: New insights from a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency of polyautoimmunity (PolyA) in a cohort of Colombian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to identify associated factors. METHODS: This is an analytical cross-sectional study in a specialized center., a comprehensive review of the medical records of SLE patients was performed from 2015 to 2020 in order to obtain demographic, clinical data, laboratory, and treatment information. Associations between PolyA, demographic, and characteristics of the disease were explored. RESULTS: A total of 463 patients were included in the analysis. The average age was 47.3 ± 15 years. Most of this population were female (87.4%), whom were diagnosed with SLE in a long-term SLE (10.6 ± 10.1 years). Out of the total patients, 34.7% were diagnosed with PolyA. Among the most frequent clinical criteria for SLICC, arthritis (65%), kidney impairment (39.5%), and alopecia (34.8%) were found. The most frequent SLE-associated PolyA were antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) (16.63% and 10.58%, respectively). PolyA-associated factors were age, xerophthalmia, central nervous system occlusion, and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In contrast, renal impairment was significantly less frequent in PolyA patients after multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: The results have showed associated factors with PolyA like age, xerophthalmia, central nervous system occlusion, and deep vein thrombosis in this cohort. On the other hand, lupus nephritis was less frequent in patients with PolyA. This study provides a spotlight of a specific SLE population as real-life evidence for a better characterization of PolyA in the future.