الفهرس 
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Abstract
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by excessive autoantibody production against ‘self’ antigens and immunocomplex formation, resulting in frequent widespread inflammatory damage to target multiple organ systems. It may affect any organ and produce a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. Lymphopenia is a common clinical manifestation in lupus and the mechanism of its occurrence is still unknown. The clinical usefulness of lymphopenia has been limited mainly to aid in lupus diagnosis because lymphopenia is one of the hematologic criteria according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Lymphopenia was detected in about two thirds of lupus patients on initial diagnosis and in more than 90% of patients during their disease course. Lymphopenia has been shown to be associated with disease activity in adult SLE patients. However, it may be caused by factors other than SLE.
Aim of this study to investigate the relation between lymphopenia and clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients.
Two thirds of our study population had normal lymphocytic count, and one third had lymphopenia. The mean age of this study population was around 32-33 years, with no significant difference between the two groups. All of the cases were females. In our study, the mean disease duration of the study groups were 4 years for cases with lymphopenia compared to 3.6 years for those with normal lymphocytic count, with no significant difference.
In current study, the lymphopenia group showed significantly more hypochromic anemia with significant lower hemoglobin level and lower MCV, the mean creatinine level was significantly higher among lymphopenic cases compared to those with normal lymphocytic count. Lymphopenic cases had higher proteinuria compared to cases with normal lymphocytic count, with a significant difference. The P/C ratio was higher among cases with lymphopenic cases compared to those with normal lymphocytic count, but with a non significant difference.
We found that the mean activity score of SLE was slightly higher among cases with lymphopenia compared to those with normal lymphocytic count, with non significant difference.
Conclusion
SLE patients presenting with lymphopenia at time of diagnosis and/or developing it during follow up should draw our attention to serious clinical manifestations that may be associated as lupus nephritis and to an increase in disease activity and organ damage indices.