Abstract
We investigated the relation between the presence of anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 176 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Five out of 59 aCL positive cases have history of AMI, while only 1 case had AMI in 116 aCL negative cases (p<0.05). In AMI cases the levels of serum aCL were moderately elevated, but lupus anticoagulant were negative in the 3 cases examined. There was no relation among the history of AMI, disease activity of SLE and the presence of other autoantibodies such as anti-RNP, anti-Sm, and anti-SS-A, antibodies. In most cases, the risk factors of coronary heart disease and the influence of corticosteroids on AMI were neglegeble.
