A Greek multicenter study comparing the clinical and immunologic phenotypes between adult and juvenile- onset lupus

Results At diagnosis the mean (SD) ages were 12.25(0.27) and 33.93(1.32) yrs, whereas the mean follow-up 6.63 (0.59) and 11.6 (0.7) yrs, for jSLE and aSLE respectively. General features, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and haematology abnormalities were more frequent in jSLE patients (p1=0.001, p2=0.025 and p3<0.0001, respectively), whereas photosensitivity was commoner in those with aSLE (p=0.047). The main difference was the higher mean number of organ/system involvement in the jSLE group (p=0.0006). At the end of 5 yrs, the cumulative number of clinical manifestations was similar in both groups. Anti-dsDNAs, anti-cardiolipin, anti-Sm, anti-URNP antibodies and low C3 and C4 were significantly commoner in jSLE (p<0.01).