Epidemiology of cutaneous lupus erythematosus in a tertiary referral centre in Singapore

Abstract

The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the epidemiology, yield of investigations and proportion of patients who develop systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) among the subsets of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (LE) in the Singapore Asian population. One hundred and twenty-five patients were diagnosed with cutaneous LE on clinico-pathological correlation, of which 73 had discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE), eight had subacute cutaneous LE (SCLE), 22 had acute LE lesions and the remainder had other less common forms of cutaneous LE. Histology was consistent with LE in 94.4% and suggestive in 4.8%. Direct immunofluorescence was positive in 61% of DLE, 86% of SCLE and 80% of acute LE cases. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) was present in the majority of acute LE (85%) and SCLE (88%) but only in 25% of DLE. Eight patients (11%) presenting with DLE had definite SLE at first presentation and two (2.7%) subsequently several months later. Of these patients, six had only mucocutaneous and serological criteria but two had major organ involvement. Five SCLE patients (63%) fulfilled the criteria for SLE, including two with major organ involvement.

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus in Sarawak, East Malaysia

“…Ng et al, noted that 63% of their SCLE patients and 9.6% CCLE patients had concomitant SLE. [1] A very low association was noted between SCLE and SLE in the current study. The male to female ratio was 6.4:1 with 13:1 in ACLE, 1:0 in SCLE and 2.9:1 in CCLE.…”

“…This ratio was similar to those found by others. [1,2] In this series, positive ANA was noted in 85. 7% In the current study, ACLE constitute erythema, edema and scaling over the malar region and/or photodistributed areas.…”

“…This is not dissimilar to findings in Brazil and Singapore. [1,3] Concomitant SLE was seen in all patients with ACLE, in 17.9% with SCLE and in 8.9% with CCLE. Ng et al, noted that 63% of their SCLE patients and 9.6% CCLE patients had concomitant SLE.…”

A clinical and epidemiological study of lupus erythematosus at a tertiary referral dermatology clinic in Korea

“…However, there is limited information on the epidemiology of LE with regard to the cutaneous manifestations, especially in Asian countries. 6 As the etiology and clinical characteristics of specific LE skin disease are relatively well established, clinicians can make an accurate diagnosis even with the broad clinical spectrum of the disease. 1,3,7-10 On the other hand, because non-specific LE skin lesions commonly occur in patients that do not have or will not develop LE, such skin lesions are often underestimated in their association with SLE.…”

“…5 Thus, it is important to know the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the cutaneous manifestation of LE, however, there is very limited information on LE patients that present to dermatology outpatient clinics in Asian countries when compared with western countries. 3,[6][7][8][9][10] The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of specific and non-specific LE associated skin disease in 117 patients with LE, retrospectively over about a 10-year period at the Department of Dermatology of Chonnam National University Hospital, Korea. In addition, we analyzed the clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and associated risk for systemic involvement.…”