tibolone in postmenopausal women with systemic lupus erythematosus a pilot study objective to determine the influence of the use of tibolone on the frequency of flares of systemic lupus erythematosus sle in postmenopausal patientsmethods thirty patients with inactive or controlled sle were included in the study patients were randomized to receive a 12month course of either tibolona 25 mgday or placebo the following were investigated hypoestrogenism symptoms by kupperman index weight antidsdna antibodies sle flares frequency assessed by the systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index sledai and biochemical profile total cholesterol highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol hdlc triglycerides complement components c3c4 alpha1acid glycoprotein urea creatinine 24h proteinuria creactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rateresults the reduction in kupperman index was greater in the patients using tibolone than in those using placebo the mean sledai was not different between the groups during the study as well as sle flare frequency tibolone 215 133 vs placebo 115 67 p054 all cases of flares were considered mild to moderate although the groups were similar at the baseline evaluation after 6 and 12 months of treatment lower values were found in the tibolone group for triglycerides 6 months 1616309 mgdl vs 1944465 p004 12 months 1637298 mgdl vs 2041499 mgdl p002 tibolone vs placebo group respectively and for hdlc 6 months 407107 mgdl vs 534165 p002 12 months 47279 mgdl vs 632163mgdl p001 tibolone vs placebo group respectively there were no differences between the two groups in any of the remaining variablesconclusion in patients with inactive or stable sle the shortterm use of tibolone did not significantly affect the frequency of flares in addition tibolone was well tolerated and effective to control hypoestrogenism related symptoms in sle patients