Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may have a different serological and clinical profile according to age of disease onset.
Aim: To compare clinical presentation and serological data from patients with SLE onset in childhood (cSLE) with disease onset in adulthood (aSLE) in a sample of Brazilian patients.
Methods: Retrospective study of 614 SLE patients from a single Rheumatology Unit from Brazil: 77 (12.5%) cSLE and 537 (87.4%) aSLE. Clinical and serological data were obtained from the charts. Comparisons of cSLE with aSLE in general and according to patient's gender were made.
Results: The comparison of whole sample showed that children had more malar rash (p = 0.04), seizures (p < 0.0001), psychosis (p = 0.02), glomerulonephritis (p = 0.001), anti-dsDNA (p = 0.008), anticardiolipin IgM (p = 0.04) but less discoid lesions (p = 0.01), anti-Ro (p < 0.0001) and anti-La antibodies (p = 0.007). When only the male sample was compared, no differences in glomerulonephritis and anti-dsDNA frequencies were found.
Conclusion: Children had a higher frequency of severe manifestations (glomerulonephritis and central nervous system) than adults. The difference in glomerulonephritis occurrence disappeared when only males were compared.
Keywords: Systemic lupus erythematosus; adulthood; central nervous system involvement; childhood; glomerulonephritis.