The Prevalence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Lithuania: The Lowest Rate in Northern Europe

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Lithuania (Vilnius). Two different studies were designed for SLE cases identification: registry-based SLE study and population-based SLE study. For the registry-based study patients were enrolled during the period of 1999-2004 and from two sources, including out-patient clinics of Vilnius and tertiary rheumatology center with interview during the year 2004. Only Vilnius residents who fulfilled the ACR 1982 revised criteria for the classification of SLE were counted in this study. Seventy-six living adult patients with SLE were interviewed and accounted for the prevalence of 16.2/100000 (0.016%) using the Vilnius adult population in January 2004 (a population of 470451). The population study of randomly selected 10,000 Vilnius inhabitants with beforehand validation of the survey was performed in the same year. The population-based study revealed two cases for 4017 respondents, but the low response rate may be important. Extrapolating the results to population of 10000 inhabitants, the point prevalence of SLE in the entire sample was at least 0.02%. Therefore, the prevalence of SLE in Lithuania is the lowest if compared to Northern European countries.

Nationwide population-based epidemiologic study of systemic lupus erythematosus in Taiwan

“…1 The reported incidence of SLE ranges from 1 to 10/100,000/year [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and prevalence from 16 to 70/100,000. 2,3,[5][6][7][8][9][12][13][14][15][16][17] Due to improvement in detection of mild disease, the reported incidence tripled from the 1950s to the 1990s. 10 Ethnicity affects the prevalence and clinical manifestations.…”

Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): A review on the prevalence, clinical manifestation, and disease assessment

“…16.2/100,000 (0.016%) [20] South Ireland 21.7-39.5/100,000 (0.022%-0.039%) [21] Norway 47.6-57.9/100,000 (0.048%-0.058%) [22] For Oceanic continent, looking at Australia, although there is a lack of published information on SLE, one identified study has reported that two ethnic groups, namely Aboriginal Australian and Caucasians were known to have SLE. Whereas, a study reported in 1998 stated that the prevalence of SLE in Queensland, Australia was 45.3 per 100,000 people [23] .…”

Eye Infection Complications in Rheumatic Diseases

“…Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with diverse symptomatology resulting from involvement of many organs and systems. The prevalence of SLE in the general population ranges from 0.016 to 0.092% [33,34,35]. The typical clinical features of SLE include facial erythema, discoid rash, photosensitivity, oral ulcers, arthritis, pleurisy or pericarditis, kidney changes, changes in the central nervous system, haematological disorders (such as hemolytic anemia, leukopenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia), immune changes with presence of antinuclear, anti-DNA and anti-Sm autoantibodies, as well as false positive syphilis tests.…”