OBJECTIVETo evaluation the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, and investigate the factors that affecting lipid levels in SLE patients.

METHODSA total of 540 adult SLE patients hospitalized in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from March 2010 to March 2013 were retrospectively included (SLE group), and 1 080 gender and age matched (1: 2) healthy controls were selected from our medical examination center (control group). The prevalence rate of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and the levels of serum lipid were compared between the two groups, the factors affecting lipid levels in SLE patients were also analyzed.

RESULTSThe percentage of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, elevated total cholesterol (TC), elevated triglyceride (TG), decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in SLE patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (all P < 0.01) . Compared with the control group, SLE patients had significantly higher TC, TG, LDL-C levels and significantly lower HDL-C levels (all P < 0.01) . Multifactor regression analysis showed that TC and LDL-C levels were positively correlated with lupus nephritis (β = 0.695,0.437), corticosteroids therapy (β = 1.195, 0.715), complement C4 levels (β = 4.817, 3.382) and 24 hours urine protein content (β = 0.112, 0.078) (all P < 0.01) , but negatively correlated with serum albumin (Alb) (β = -0.107, -0.077) and high sensitive C reactive protein (hsCRP) levels (β = -0.021, -0.014) (all P < 0.01). TG levels were positively correlated with lupus nephritis (β = 0.359) and 24 hours urine protein content (β = 0.045) (both P < 0.05), negatively correlated with male gender (β = -0.605), age (β = -0.014) and Alb levels (β = -0.053) (P < 0.01 or 0.05). HDL-C levels were positively correlated with age (β = 0.007), lupus nephritis (β = 0.188), corticosteroids therapy (β = 0.342), consecutive 30 days cumulative corticosteroids dose before serum lipid were measured (β<0.001), and complement C3 levels(β = 0.351) (all P < 0.01) , negatively correlated with hsCRP levels (β = -0.005, P < 0.01). Serum lipid levels did not correlate with disease duration, disease activity, corticosteroids therapy time, corticosteroids daily dose before serum lipid measurement, serum creatinine levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (all P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence rate of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia in SLE hospitalized patients are significantly higher compared to normal controls and lipid levels of SLE patients are related to various SLE disease factors.