Introduction

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease with significant heterogeneity and periods of relapse and remissions. It is more prevalent in women particularly in their reproductive years. The prevalence of SLE was found to be 3.2 per 100,000 population in a study conducted near Delhi in India¹.The etiology of SLE remains unknown and is clearly multifactorial. The diagnosis is based on characteristic clinical features and presence of autoantibodies. Of all the characteristic clinical features of lupus, it is the extreme sex skewing that remains least understood. Francis Fatoye et al² did a population based study in Alberta Canada, which estimated the prevalence to be 27.3 cases and 3.2 cases per10,000 for females and males, respectively.

Female predominates the disease with 9:1 ratioin a study done by weckerle C et al³ in 2011. The female to male ratio as studied by pande et al⁴ in 1993 in India is also 9:1.We present a case of male SLE which is a rare clinical presentation admitted in our  tertiary care center with short febrile illness.

1. Malaviya AN. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. In Association of physicians of India Text book of Medicine Sainani GS(ed)New Delhi(5^th ed)1992;1125-32
2. Fatoye F, Gebrye T, Svenson LW. Real-world incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus in Alberta, Canada[published online ahead of print, 2018 Jul 9]. Rheumatol Int. 2018; 38(9):1721–1726.
3. Weckerle, C. and Niewold, T. (2010). The Unexplained Female Predominance of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Clues from Genetic and Cytokine Studies. Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology, 40(1), pp.42-49.
4. Pande I,Sakharan NG,Kailashet al. Analysis of clinical and laboratory profile in childhood SLE and its comparison with SLE in adults LUPUS 1993; 2:83-87
5. American College of Rheumatology. 1997  Update of  the 1982 American  College of  Rheumatology  revised  criteria for  classification  of  systemic  lupus 
6. Keskin G,  Tokgöz G,  Düzgün N, et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus in Turkish men, Clin Exp Rheumatol, 2000, vol. 18(pg. 114-5)
7. Prete P, Majlessi A,  Hamideh F. Systemic lupus erythematosus in men: a retrospective analysis in a Veterans Administration healthcare system population J Clin Rheum , 2011, vol. 7 (pg. 142-50)
8. Molina JF,  Drenkard C,  MolinaJ, et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus in males. A study of 107 Latin American patients, Medicine, 1996, vol. 75(pg. 124-30)
9. Font J, Cervera R, Navarro M, et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus in men: clinical and immunological characteristics. Ann Rheum Dis. 1992;51(9):1050-2.
10. Mok C, Lau C,  Chan TS, et al. Clinical characteristics and outcome of southern Chinese males with systemic lupus erythematosus, Lupus , 1999, vol. 8 (pg. 188-96)
11. Stefanidou S, Benos A,  Galanopoulou V. Clinical expression and morbidity of systemic lupus erythematosus during a post-diagnostic 5-year follow-up: a male:female comparison, Lupus , 2011, vol. 20 (pg. 1090-4)
12. Voulgari P, Katsimbri P,  Alamanos Y, et al. Gender and age differences in systemic lupus erythematosus. A study of 489 Greek patients with a review of the literature, Lupus , 2002, vol. 11 (pg. 722-9)
13. V.R, Balakrishnan C.Systemic Lupus Erythematosus- Manual of Rheumatology-IRA Publication1999 227-248

Baraneedaran S

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Mobile: 9487782324