Objective: To assess how anti-ENA characteristics change in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus from different ethnic backgrounds over a 10-year period follow-up study.
Results: There were 61 patients, of whom 37 were Caucasian, 12 were Asian and 12 were AfroCaribbean. At the first available bleed 12=37 (32%) Caucasians were anti-ENA positive compared to 6=12 (50%) Asians and 9=12 (75%) of Afro-Caribbeans (Chi-squared P ‘ 0.01 for Caucasian vs Afro-Caribbean) and these proportions remained essentially unchanged after 10 y of follow-up. However, over the 10 y of follow-up anti-ENA patterns did change, with anti-Ro being the commonest antibody pattern to emerge and anti-Ro/La the commonest antibody pattern to disappear. There were 20=37(54%) Caucasians, 1=12(8%) Afro-Caribbeans and 5=12(42%) Asians who remained negative for anti-ENA throughout the 10-year follow-up (Chi-squared P ‘ 0.03 for Caucasian vs Afro-Caribbean).
Conclusion: Anti-ENA were more commonly found in the Afro-Caribbean than the Caucasian population. The commonest patterns of anti-ENA differ between ethnic groups and, over a 10-year period, anti-ENA patterns in individual patients changed in a significant number of individuals. However, Caucasians were more likely to remain anti-ENA negative over 10 y of follow-up than Afro-Caribbeans.
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