Prevalence and outcomes of a pilot definition of severe refractory systemic lupus erythematosus: observations from a multinational Asia-Pacific cohort

R Kandane-Rathnayake; W Louthrenoo; CS Lau; L Hamijoyo; J Cho; A Lateef; SF Luo; YJ Wu; S Navarra; L Zamora; Z Li; YH Chen; S Oon; M Chan; S Sockalingam; Y Hao; Z Zhang; SC Bae; J Kikuchi; T Takeuchi; Y Katsumata; BMDB Basnayake; F Goldblatt; S O’Neill; K Pek Ling Ng; N Tugnet; M Sapsford; YJ Poh; C Tee; M Tee; N Ohkubo; AO Lefeber; T Shisha; Y Tanaka; V Golder; M Nikpour; A Hoi; P Gergely; E Morand

Journal article

Prevalence and outcomes of a pilot definition of severe refractory systemic lupus erythematosus: observations from a multinational Asia-Pacific cohort

R Kandane-Rathnayake, W Louthrenoo, CS Lau, L Hamijoyo, J Cho, A Lateef, SF Luo, YJ Wu, S Navarra, L Zamora, Z Li, YH Chen, S Oon, M Chan, S Sockalingam, Y Hao, Z Zhang, SC Bae, J Kikuchi, T Takeuchi Show all

Arthritis Research and Therapy | Published : 2025

DOI: 10.1186/s13075-025-03622-8

Open access

Abstract

Background: Emerging therapies have the potential to be used in patients with severe refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (srSLE), but no agreed definition of srSLE exists. We evaluated a pilot srSLE definition to assess whether a set of disease activity and treatment thresholds could identify patients with poor outcomes. Methods: Data from a 13-country longitudinal SLE cohort, collected prospectively between 2013 and 2020 were analysed. srSLE was defined if a patient was in high disease activity (SLEDAI-2K ≥ 10) despite combination use of at least glucocorticoids (GC) and immunosuppressants (IS) at both the index and preceding visit. Synchronised to the index srSLE visit, we assessed dis..

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