Predominant prevalence of arterial thrombosis in Japanese patients with antiphospholipid syndrome

To study the clinical and immunological manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) in the Japanese population by a single-centre registration.

In this retrospective cohort study, 141 consecutive patients with APS, fulfilling the Sydney revised Sapporo criteria for definite APS, who visited our autoimmune clinic from 1988 to 2010, were recruited and followed up. All the patients were interviewed and underwent a general physical examination by qualified rheumatologists on the day of blood sampling.

The population comprised 119 woman and 22 men with a mean age at diagnosis of 44 years (range 9-79 years). Seventy patients (49.6%) had primary APS, and 71 (50.4%) had systemic lupus erythematosus. The prevalence of thrombosis was 85.8 per cent, arterial thrombosis was found in 93 patients (66.0%) and venous thrombosis was found in 46 patients (32.6%). The most common thrombosis was cerebral infarction [86/141 (61.0%)] followed by deep vein thrombosis [33/141 (23.4%)]. Among 70 pregnant women, 45 (64.3%) had obstetric complications. Lupus anticoagulant was detected in 116 patients (82.3%), anticardiolipin antibodies in 83 (58.9%), anti-β2 glycoprotein I antibodies in 73 (51.8%) and phosphatidylserine-dependent antiprothrombin antibodies in 98 (69.5%).

High prevalence of arterial thrombosis was noted in Japanese patients with APS. The profile of heterogeneous and complex clinical manifestations was substantiated in Japanese patients with APS.