Epidemiological characteristics of patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus

Lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease with a wide clinical spectrum and variable clinical course. Few studies have analyzed the characteristics of patients with only cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and immunological characteristics of a series of patients diagnosed with CLE.

An analysis was performed of the data from all patients over 18 years of age with a diagnosis of CLE and seen between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2011 in a tertiary hospital.

One hundred- one patients were included in the study. The mean age at diagnosis was 40 years and 84% were women. Subacute forms of presentation were observed in 94% of patients. The chronic discoid forms were localized to the head and neck in 79% of cases, whereas the subacute forms were on the trunk in 97% of cases. Patients with acute forms were positive for antinuclear, anti-DNA, anti-smooth muscle, and anti-RNP (ribonucleoprotein) antibodies, whereas anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies predominated in patients with subacute forms. Seventeen patients presented more than 1 subtype of CLE. Fifteen (88%) of these patients received immunosuppressor treatment versus 44 (52%) of the other 84 patients with only 1 subtype of CLE. Patients with distinct subtypes of CLE present different clinical and immunological characteristics. Oral immunosuppressants are often needed to control the disease in a large proportion of patients with different subtypes of CLE.