Background Neuropsychiatric disorders have a high morbidity being cognitive impairment (CI) one of the most frequent syndromes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) which lead to a poor quality of life

Objectives To determine the prevalence and risk factors of CI in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Methods Twenty seven patients were selected from a total of 150 patients with SLE. CI was evaluated in all patients by the test of Barcelona (for qualitative evaluation of cognitive state: language, reading, writing, visual recognition, memory and abstraction) and the Montreal cognitive assessment (COCA). The following risk factors were evaluated: SLEDAI, obesity/overweight, systemic arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, pulses of methylprednisolone, SLIC/ACR, use of benzodiazepine, cyclophosphamide and chloroquine. Statistical analysis: Fisher test, T-test Student and logistical regression.

Results There were 27 SLE patients (25 women and 2 men), mean age 42±14 years) mean disease evolution (10±8.6 years), length of education (11.7±4.2 years). With the test of Barcelona we found that 100% of patients had involvement in at least one item, being the most affected areas: attention in 33%, memory in 52%, analysis synthesis and abstraction in 44.4%. With respect to the MOCA a prevalence of 55.6% (15 of 27) of CI was found. Of these patients 12 of 15 had mild CI and 3 of 15 dementia. We only found that the use of chloroquine conferred protection against cognitive impairment (OR 0.236, CI 0.120–0.692, p<0.003). The other risk factors were not significant: dyslipidemia (OR 8.5, CI 0.508–143, p= NS), SLIC/ACR (OR 6.3, CI 0.64–109.7), obesity/overweight (OR 0.407, CI 0.02–5-2, systemic arterial hypertension (OR 0.782, CI 0.031–754), pulses of methylprednisolone (1. 85, CI 0.64- 18.119), use of cyclophosphamide (OR 0. 327, CI 0.115–7.056), among others.

Conclusions We found a high prevalence of cognitive impairment being the use of chloroquine a protective factor. It is important to recognize these patients in order to offer them a medical alternative with a psychological rehabilitation.

Disclosure of Interest None declared