Clinical and Immunological Characteristics of a Cohort of Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS)

Abstract

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune thrombophilic condition occurring due to the presence of antibodies that recognize phospholipid binding proteins. The disease can be primary or secondary. Primary APS occurs in the absence of any other related disease while secondary APS occurs with other autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus. We performed a cross sectional study on 70 patients with APS, and they were studied regarding to demographic pattern, clinical manifestations and immunological characteristics and they further subdivided into two groups: 1. Primary APS, including APS patients without associated other autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD). They consisted of 17 patients (24.29%). 2. Secondary APS or ARD/APS, including APS patients with associated other ARD. They consisted of 53 patients (75.71%), 52 patients of them (98.1%) were secondary to SLE while 1 patient (1.9%) was secondary to Sjogren`s syndrome.