Background: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with lupus nephritis (LN), and its correlation with carotid atherosclerosis.
Methods: Two hundred ten patients with LN (age: 38.83 ± 12.41 years, 92.86% women) were enrolled. The control group included 150 lupus patients without nephritis and 200 age-matched healthy persons. The improved criteria in 2009 were used to calculate the prevalence of MS, and carotid artery ultrasound was used to detect plaque and intima-media thickness (IMT). The correlation between MS and carotid atherosclerosis in patients with LN was analyzed.
Results: The prevalence of MS in patients with LN was 41.90%, which was significantly higher than that in lupus patients without nephritis (30.67%) and healthy controls (11.50%). LN patients with MS showed a significantly increased carotid plaque ratio (28.41% versus 17.21%, P < 0.05) and IMT value (0.74 ± 0.25 mm versus 0.64 ± 0.18 mm, P < 0.01). Stepwise multiple regression further confirmed that age (β = 0.026, P = 0.033), duration of disease (β = 0.057, P = 0.025) and MS (β = 0.074, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors that affected the carotid IMT value in patients with LN.
Conclusions: The prevalence of MS was comparatively high in patients with LN and was significantly correlated with carotid atherosclerosis, indicating that MS screening might be useful in the prevention and treatment of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with LN.