OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the frequency and the different types of organ damage in relation to disease duration in Brazilian patients with SLE followed in a tertiary reference center through the application of the SLICC/ACR-DI. METHODS: sixty SLE patients were enrolled in this study, and relevant data were obtained through medical history, physical and laboratory examinations reviewing the hospital records. The frequency and different types of organ damage were determined using the SLICC/ACR-DI. Statistics were performed through qui-square and t-tests. Multivariate regression was used to correlate damage with disease duration. RESULTS: forty-one patients (68.3%) presented some cumulative organ damage. Non-caucasoid patients and patients with longer disease duration had a slight tendency to have more damage (p = 0.058). Skin (35.0%), neuropsychiatric (18.3%), ocular (15.0%), peripheral vascularization (16.6%) and cardiovascular (10.0%) systems were more frequently affected. Patients with more than 60 months of disease had a slight tendency to present greater ocular, neuropsychiatric, renal, skin and musculoskeletal damage than patients with shorter disease duration. Patients with more than 120 months of disease had greater pulmonary, cardiovascular and peripheral vascular damage. CONCLUSIONS: in this study, 68.3% of permanent damage was observed. Skin, neuropsychiatric, ocular, peripheral vascularization and cardiovascular systems were more frequently affected. Renal and gonadal involvement was not as frequent as previously described. Non-caucasoid patients had a tendency to present higher scores, but more studies are necessary to determinate if ethnic or economic factors are involved.
systemic lupus erythematosus; cumulative organ damage; outcome; prognosis
