Cough in systemic lupus erythematosus

This observational study was conducted in the lupus clinic of Department of Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2007 to July 2007. Thirty-six consecutive SLE patients fulfilled American College of Rheumatology (ACR) diagnostic criteria and having cough for any duration was enrolled. Equal number of age and sex matched controls (The patient attending in the out patient department in the Medicine having cough without SLE) was taken after having informed consent. Severely disabled cases and cases unwilling to participate with a cough were excluded. Mean age of study population was 29.1±8.7 years and 29.8±9.9 years in controls. Duration of cough was less than 3 weeks in 17% of SLE patients and 8% of control group and was more than three weeks in 83% and 92% respectively. In SLE patient commonest causes of cough was bronchial asthma 47% and was 33% in controls. Post nasal drip syndrome was the next common causes and frequently due to sinusitis and allergic rhinitis. Its frequency was 14% and 16% in SLE and control groups respectively. Other causes were pneumonia (11%, 14%), Diffuse Parenchymal Disease lung (DPLD) (5.6% & 2.8%), and tuberculosis (5.6% & 8%) in SLE & control groups respectively. Gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD) was 2.6% in SLE group but was not found in control group. Cough is common in SLE patients. Frequency distribution though similar to that of causes of cough in community but warns the possibility of serious underlying diseases in SLE cases and attentive evaluation.