Central auditory processing in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) patients can also present neuropsychiatric disorders, such as impaired memory and attention. Central auditory processing depends on a great number of skills controlled by the central nervous system.

To characterize the performance of SLE patients, with and without neuropsychiatric disorders (NP), in central auditory processing tests.

A prospective controlled study of Dichotic Speech and Temporal Processing Tests was carried out at a tertiary teaching Institution. Three groups were formed with 20 individuals each, totalizing sixty women with age varying from 18 to 48 years: Group I - SLE patients without neuropsychiatric disorders; Group II - SLE patients with neuropsychiatric disorders as well; and Group III - age and gender matched healthy controls.

Dichotic Speech Test showed similar results for patients in Group I and for healthy controls; however, most of the patients in Group II presented impaired performance with great variability of response. SLE patients (Groups I and II) presented a significantly lower performance in Temporal Processing tests than controls.

SLE patients especially those with neuropsychiatric disorders presented impaired central auditory processing, which may contribute to the memory and attention impairment.