About 8% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have pulmonary hypertension (PH), and serum uric acid (UA) has reasonable accuracy for predicting PH, according to a study published in the June issue of the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases.
Researchers analyzed 114 patients and identified PH in 7.9% of patients who had few cardiopulmonary symptoms. SLE disease activity score was higher in patients with PH. Serum UA was significantly higher in patients with vs. those without PH.