Assessment of nutritional status and physical activity in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may present nutritional changes triggered by disease or treatment, and these conditions may interfere with prognosis.

Assess the nutritional status, physical activity and associated factors in patients with SLE under treatment at the Service of Rheumatology of Hospital das Clínicas/Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

A cross-sectional study evaluating the nutritional status, clinical laboratory findings, sociodemographic, and treatment characteristics of 170 SLE female patients.

Patients aged between 18 and 60 years were included. The mean (SD) age of patients and duration of SLE was 39.1 (10.0) and 9.9 (6.2) years, respectively. Two (1.2%) patients were classified as grade I underweight, 59 (34.7%) eutrophic, 61 (35.9%) as overweight, 37 (21.8%) as grade I obesity, seven (4,1%) as grade II obesity, and four (2,4%) as grade III obesity. Overweight and obesity were significantly associated with older age, lower education, higher SLE damage index, higher serum concentration of complement, higher incidence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, presence of ovarian failure, and less frequent use of antimalarials Regarding physical activity, 39 patients (22.9%) were classified as inactive, 100 (58.8%) insufficiently active, and 31 (18.2%) active. Of the latter, 13 (43.3%) were in the eutrophic group.

Excess weight was high in this population and associated with some traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease and SLE poor prognosis. Therefore, encouraging weight control must be part of the main goals in treating SLE patients.