Peripheral neuropathy in systemic lupus erythematosus

Introduction. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the connective tissue disorder in which neuropsychiatric complications are most often seen. The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy varies from 5 to 27% depending on the series of cases described with subclinical forms being most frequent. Objectives. To determine the prevalence of subclinical peripheral neuropathy in a group of patients with SLE define their characteristics, and investigate any possible associations with clinico-analytical parameters of the disease. Patients and methods. 32 patients with SLE were diagnosed in an Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic and followed up for at least a year. They were studied prospectively and consecutively by clinical examination, laboratory test and neurophysiological studies (electroneurogram). Results. Neurophysiological study showed peripheral neuropathy to be present in 50% of the patients, who were mainly asymptomatic (75%) and found to be normal on neurological examination (81.2%). The most frequent type of neuropathy was polyneuropathy (37.5%) which was predominantly axonal symmetrical and sensomotor followed by isolated mono-neuropathy (6.2%) and multiple mononeuritis (6.2%). No clinical or analytical parameter was significantly associated with the development of peripheral neuropathy. Conclusions. The considerable frequency of subclinical peripheral neuropathy in patients with SLE and the absence of associated clinical or analytical parameters makes it necessary to carry out neurophysiological studies in these patients to detect its presence and establish the precise extent of the disorder.