Clinical manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with and without antiphospholipid antibodies (the so-called 'seronegative APS')

Jose Luis Rodriguez-Garcia, Maria Laura Bertolaccini, Maria Jose Cuadrado, Giovanni Sanna, Oier Ateka-Barrutia, Munther A. Khamashta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

100 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objectives: Although the medical literature currently provides a growing number of isolated case reports of patients with clinically well-defined antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and persistently negative antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), there are no studies including a series of patients addressing the clinical features of this condition.

Methods: The authors assessed clinical manifestations of APS in 154 patients: 87 patients with seropositive APS and 67 patients with thrombosis and/or pregnancy morbidity persistently negative for aPL and presenting with at least two additional non-criteria manifestations of APS (the so-called ‘seronegative APS’, SN-APS). Patients were interviewed at the time of recruitment, and a retrospective file review was carried out.

Results: There were no significant differences in the frequency of thrombotic events or obstetric morbidity in patients with SN-APS versus patients with seropositive APS: deep vein thrombosis (31.4% vs 31.0%), pulmonary embolism (23.8% vs 28.7%), stroke (14.9% vs 17.2%), transient ischaemic attack (11.9% vs 10.3%), early spontaneous abortions (67.1% vs 52.1%), stillbirths (62.5% vs 59.4%), prematurity (28.1% vs 21.7%) or pre-eclampsia (28.1% vs 23.1%).

Conclusions: Classic and SN-APS patients show similar clinical profiles. The results suggest that clinical management in patients with APS should not be based only on the presence of conventional aPL.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)242 - 244
Number of pages3
JournalAnnals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Volume71
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

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