SLE Patients Benefit From Routine Echocardiography Cardiac involvement common in systemic lupus erythematosus

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but without a history of cardiac disease, developed various cardiac abnormalities detected by echocardiography, according to a meta-analysis. SLE patients had a more than 30-fold risk of developing pericardiac effusions versus controls (OR 30.52, 95% CI 9.70 to 96.02, P<0.00001) and a higher risk of left atrial and ventricular structural abnormalities, as well as of reduced left ventricular systolic and diastolic function, reported Anping Xu, MD, PhD, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. SLE patients showed increases in: Left atrial diameter (LAD): weighted mean difference (WMD) of 0.18 (95% CI 0.06 to 0.29, P=0.002) Left ventricular internal diameter in diastole (LVDd): WMD 0.07 (95% CI 0.02 to 0.12, P=0.01) Left ventricular mass index (LVMI): WMD of 5.69 (95% CI 2.69 to 8.69, P=0.0002) In contrast, there was a decrease in left ventricular systolic function (WMD –1.22, 95 % CI –1.69 to –0.75, P<0.00001). Diastolic function also decreased, including E/A [peak early transmitral filling wave velocity/peak late transmitral filling wave velocity] ratio, as well as the E/E' [peak early transmitral filling wave velocity/tissue Doppler imaging of early diastolic mitral annular velocity] ratio (WMD –0.13, 95 % CI –0.24 to –0.01, P=0.04, and WMD 1.71, 95 % CI 0.43 to 2.99, P=0.009). Other research has identified cardiac abnormalities on electrocardiogram in roughly one in three lupus patients. http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Lupus/59729?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2016-08-18&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1