Alterações citológicas em esfregaços cervicais de pacientes com Lúpus Eritematoso Sistêmico em terapia imunossupressora

Abstract

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with higher prevalence over women. There has been a significant increase in survival time over the years resulting from the improvement of citotoxic and immunosuppressant therapy. This study aims at identifying the prevalence of altered results for cervical smears in this group of patients. 80 patients of the SLE group and 101 patients of the control group were part of the study. The prevalence of alterations in the SLE group was 31.3%, and 5% in the control group (p=0.000). No statistically significant association was found between the presence of alterations in pap smears and the variables STD history, first sexual intercourse at age ≤ 17, multiple partners (≥ 4), previous history of HPV, use of oral contraceptives, tobacco smoking, social class and cancer presence in the family. Statistically significant association was found only in the group variable; patients in the SLE group had a 8.2 higher chance (IC 95% = 2.7 24.9) of showing alterations in the pap smears than those in the control group. These numbers show that SLE patients in immunosuppressant therapy have more alterations in pap smear exams, deserving special attention with regards to cervical cancer prevention.