Clinical profile of patients with lupus nephritis.

associated symptoms in patients with nephritis (5). Variability in these findings can be explained by the different ethnic background of the studied sample. We have studied associated symptoms in 71 patients with lupus nephritis and 142 SLE patients without renal involvement. This sample includes all lupus patients with nephritis followed in the last five years in our service, with biopsy proven disease except for those already admitted in class 6. All included patients fulfilled at least 4 lupus classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology. In this sample, 96.2% (205/213) were females and 3.7% (8/213) males and the mean age was 38.3±11.8 years. The clinical profile showed 72.7% (155/213) of photosensitivity; 51.6% (110/213) of hemocytopenias; 50.2% (107/213) of arthritis; 49.7% (106/213) of malar rash; 49.2 (105/213) of alopecia; 48.3% (103/213) of Raynaud; 45.5% (97/213) of mouth ulcers; 17.3% (37/213) of pleuritis; 14.4% (30/213) of discoid rash; 11.7% (25/213) of pericarditis; 6,5% (14/213) of subacute lupus skin lesions, 6.1% (13/213) of cerebral vascular accidents, and 3,2% To the Editor