Objective: To explore the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with lupus enteritis to provide rationales for clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Methods: A retrospective group control study was conducted for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with complaints of acute abdominal pain from 2004 to 2011. They were divided into 2 groups: lupus enteritis (n = 66) and non-lupus related abdominal pain (n = 73). The associated factors included demographic, laboratory, clinical and radiographic data.
Results: Lupus enteritis (39.3%) was the most common cause of lupus patients with acute abdominal pain. There were no differences in autoantibody profiles, complement, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C reactive protein and SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) score between two groups. The level of D-dimer and European consensus lupus activity measurement (ECLAM) score were significantly higher in the group of lupus enteritis than those in non-lupus related gastrointestinal injury. Lupus enteritis had significantly higher percentage of complications with multiple serous cavity effusions and ascites. But after adjusting with logistic regression multivariate analysis, only the level of D-dimer, ECLAM and volume of ascites were associated with occurrence of lupus enteritis.
Conclusion: Lupus enteritis is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain. D-dimer is an excellent predictor for lupus abdominal pain. As compared with SLEDAI, ECLAM may be more suitable for assessment in SLE patients with alimentary tract injury.