Correlation between capillaroscopic findings and bone mineral density results in the systemic lupus erythematosus patients

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder that can cause vascular involvement. The vascular changes can be seen in the bed of the nails. It was observed that SLE has a relationship with bone mineral density (BMD) changes. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the frequency and types of capillaroscopic change in SLE and its relationship between capillaroscopic changes with BMD in SLE. Patients and Methods: Thirty-three patients with SLE who were referred to Resalat hospital (Tehran, Iran) underwent nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC). In addition, these patients were evaluated for BMD from spine and hip. Moreover, the correlation of these data was assessed. Result: Scleroderma pattern was seen in 12.12% of patients, non-scleroderma pattern (NSP) in 27.3% patients and normal pattern in 60.6% based on NFC. There was no relationship between gender and NFC. The mean age was 43.30 years and 78.8% of patients were female. Dimension and morphological abnormalities had a relationship with scleroderma pattern (P=0.033 and P=0.014 respectively). There was a relationship between spine BMD and morphological abnormality too (P=0.013). Conclusion: NFC is a good method for evaluating vascular change in patients with SLE and in this method, abnormal morphology and dimension have higher prevalence than other abnormalities in patients with SLE. Additionally, a relationship between abnormal morphology in NFC and spinal osteoporosis in SLE patients was detected.