Objectives:

To describe the damage, and the factors that best explain it, in a population of Colombian patients.

Methods:

A retrospective follow-up study of a patient cohort. The damage was measured using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) and the American College of Rheumatology ACR index, and disease activity by SELENA SLEDAI. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the damage. The factors associated with the outcome were evaluated with Pearson's or Fisher's Chi2, Student's t or Mann-Whitney's U. The proportion of patients that accumulated damage was evaluated with the Friedman test, and the cumulative score with the Wilcoxon test. The determination of the factors independently associated with the outcome was performed using logistic regression.

Results:

A total of 161 patients with recent diagnosis, and followed for one year or more, were included, 28.9% of whom had suffered damage. The most represented domains were neuropsychiatric, renal and vascular. Anti-phospholipid antibodies, mean doses of prednisolone greater than 12.5 mg/day, and suffering two or more relapses were independently associated with organ damage.

Conclusions:

Anti-phospholipid antibodies, steroid doses and frequency of relapses are associated with organ damage in a Colombian population of patients with SLE.

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