[Damage in cuban patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Relation with disease features].

OBJECTIVE To determine damage presence and predictors factors for its appearance in a cohort of cuban patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). PATIENTS AND METHODS A retrospective cohort study included 80 patients presenting with SLE seen in Rheumatology Service of "Hermanos Ameijeiras" Clinical Surgical Hospital in Havana City, Cuba. Damage was assessed using The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index (SLIC/ACR), a tool approved for damage measurement. Damage presence was related to initial disease features to diagnose this condition, to sociodemographic elements, to treatments used, and to the disease course time. Statistical analysis had two variants: the univariate and multivariate type using Chi2 and statistical significance was established in p<0, 05. RESULTS We found that 39 patients (48,8%) had some degree of damage. More involved domains were the musculoskeletal (18,8%), neuropsychiatric, and skin, 16,3%, pulmonary and ocular, present in 15% of cases. In the multivariate analysis, damage was associated with the use of higher than 30 mg/day Prednisone doses for more of 4 weeks (OR=54,68, CI 95%=3,56-97,45, p=0.001), presence of leukopenia (RO=18,73, CI 95%=2,74-62,23m p=0,004), and time course of disease (OR=1,02, CI 95%=1,00 2-1,09, p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS Damage was practically present in half of the study patients, the most involved domain was the musculoskeletal, and use of higher than 30mg prednisone doses were the factor most associated with the presence of damage.