OBJECTIVE: Dyslipidemia is an independent modifiable risk factor for coronary artery disease. Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have higher chance develop dyslipidemia and accelerated atherosclerosis; however, there is a paucity of published data on the lipid profile in patients with SLE in Indonesia. This study was done to assess the prevalence and abnormality of lipid profile in patients with SLE admitted to a tertiary care teaching hospital in Semarang Indonesia.
METHODS: Fifty six children and adolescents with SLE were enrolled for study from January 2017 to December 2018. We evaluated the duration of medications, anthropometric data, and lipid profile. Serum analysis of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and the cholesterol fractions [high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c)] was performed by calorimetric enzymatic methods. To classify the lipid profile, we adopted the cut off points proposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
RESULTS: Thirty seven patients showed abnormality of lipid profile. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 17 years. Hypercholesterolemia was found in 21 (56,75%), hypertriglyceridemia in 23 (62,1%), raised LDL-C in 26 (70,2%) cases. Raised TC, TG, and LDL-C were found in 7 cases (18,9%), and raised TC, TG, LDL-C and low HDL-C were found in 5 (13,5%) cases. All patients were treated with methylprednisolone according to protocol therapy of SLE in dr. Kariadi Hospital Semarang. Duration time of lipid profile abnormality after corticosteroid therapy started were vary from 1 to 20 months, with 6 months as median.
CONCLUSIONS: Abnormalities of lipid profile are found in fifty percent of SLE patients and more, and its appear after 1 month until 20 months during corticosteroid therapy