Frequency of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Case-Control Study in a Department of Internal Medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: The morbidity and mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus are largely due to accelerated atherosclerosis. This is partly related to the high prevalence of traditional cardiovascular risk factors. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of these factors in lupus patients compared to a control population in a department of internal medicine. Methods: We realized a case-control study in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus according to ACR criteria in 1997. Patients were matched by age and gender with controls subjects without autoimmune disease. We studied the frequency of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in both populations. The study was done in the department of internal medicine of Aristide Le Dantec teaching Hospital, in Senegal, during the period from August 2017 to December 2018. The statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 23.0 software and the level of significance was retained for a p-value < 0.05. Results: We recruited 100 subjects including 50 patients and 50 controls. The mean age was 33.5 ± 11.3 years in cases and 33.3 ± 11.3 years in controls. Dyslipidemia was significantly associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (p = 0.009). Levels of triglycerides (p < 0.001) and uricemia (p < 0.001) were significantly higher in patients. The level of HDL cholesterol (p = 0.028) was lower in cases. Thus, low HDL cholesterolemia (p = 0.001), hypertriglyceridemia (p < 0.001), and hyperuricemia (p = 0.043) were more common in the cases. Renal failure was associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (p < 0.001). Difference in LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.103), hypertension (p = 1) and metabolic syndrome (p = 1) between cases and controls was not significant. Obesity and overweight were predominant in controls (p = 0.028). Conclusion: Traditional cardiovascular risk factors including dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia were more common in patients. Similarly, renal failure was associated with lupus.