RESEARCH - Patients with SLE have impaired memory and learning abilities

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jun 15 - The results of a study published in

the June issue of the ls of the Rheumatic Diseases suggest that

patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have impaired memory

and learning abilities.

" The memory domain has been shown to be impaired frequently in

patients with SLE, " Dr. D. Paran, of Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Israel,

and colleagues note. " Several studies have attempted to characterize

the pattern or profile of cognitive impairment in SLE, aiming to

understand better the pathogenesis of these deficits. "

A total of 40 consecutive, unselected patients were evaluated and

compared to 40 healthy matched controls. The SLE patients (median age

33 years) had a median disease duration of 8 years.

Overall, 12 patients had the antiphospholipid syndrome, 10 patients

had antiphospholipid antibodies without antiphospholipid syndrome, and

18 patients were antiphospholipid antibody negative. Of the 40

patients, 16 had depression as detected by the Beck Depression

Inventory.

The authors also found that SLE patients had impairments in several

aspects of the memory domain, as measured by the Rey Auditory Verbal

Learning Test. Compared with controls, the learning curve was

significantly less steep in SLE patients (p = 0.036).

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/704426

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