Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
Prevalence and clinical associations of cerebral atrophy in systemic lupus erythematosus
Authors' conclusion
Cerebral atrophy is common in SLE and independently associated with age, education, NPSLE and cognitive impairment, reflecting neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative mechanisms.
Study context
- Population
- Adults fulfilling the 2019 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), University Malaya Medical Centre, 2024–202592.9% female
- Participants
- 70 adults
- Outcome
- Prevalence of cerebral atrophy (non-contrast CT brain, Global Cortical Atrophy score)
Methodological detailssingle-centre, multi-ethnic cohort, multivariable logistic regression
- Single-centre
- Multi-ethnic cohort
- Multivariable logistic regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Cerebral atrophy prevalence
Cerebral atrophy present
52.9%
Predominantly mild
75.7%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | OR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Factors associated with cerebral atrophy (multivariable analysis)Older age (per year) | 1.10 (1.04–1.18) | |
| 0.512Odds ratio (log scale) |
Factors associated with cerebral atrophy (multivariable analysis)
| OR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| NPSLE | 4.58 (1.05–24.07) | |
| Higher educational attainment | 0.22 (0.06–1.03) | |
| 0.050.21520Odds ratio (log scale) |
Univariate associations with cerebral atrophy
- Patients with cerebral atrophy significantly older, with longer disease duration, lower education, higher SDI and poorer Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores
Original publication
Prevalence and clinical associations of cerebral atrophy in systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus Sci Med. Published 20 July 2026. doi:10.
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