Associations between antinuclear antibody staining patterns and clinical features of systemic lupus erythematosus: analysis of a regional Swedish register.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Antinuclear antibody (ANA) analysis by immunofluorescence (IF) microscopy remains a diagnostic hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The clinical relevance of ANA fine-specificities in SLE has been addressed repeatedly, whereas studies on IF-ANA staining patterns in relation to disease manifestations are very scarce. This study was performed to elucidate whether different staining patterns associate with distinct SLE phenotypes.

Design

Observational cohort study.

Setting

One university hospital rheumatology unit in Sweden.

Participants

The study population consisted of 222 cases (89% women; 93% Caucasians), where of 178 met ≥4/11 of the 1982 American College of Rheumatology (ACR-82) criteria. The remaining 20% had an SLE diagnosis based on p

SUBMITTER: Frodlund M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3808756 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature