The present findings suggest that although RP is considered a non-specific cutaneous lesion, it does provide important information on associated symptoms and the autoantibody profile in SLE. Its presence allows the establishment of a disease subgroup in which patients experience disease onset at an older age, presenting with clinical peculiarities such as lower prevalence of glomerulonephritis, serositis and hemolytic anemia. These patients therefore have a better prognosis. Still, this subgroup of SLE patients with FR is serologically marked by the autoantibodies anti-RNP and anti-Sm.
Identifying the different patterns of SLE presentation is important from a prognostic point of view, as the recognition of a simple clinical finding such as FR allows the attending doctor to predict the disease’s evolution.