Ethnicity and lupus nephritis: An Australian single centre study

Abstract

Background: The clinical impression of Australian physicians is that systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is more prevalent and more severe in Asian patients than in their Caucasian counterparts. The presence and severity of lupus nephritis is a major determinant of prognosis in SLE, and largely determines disease impact. Aim: To analyse the relationships between ethnicity and the prevalence and severity of lupus nephritis (LN) in patients attending a tertiary referral centre (The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH)). Methods: The ethnicity of all known patients with biopsy-proven LN was determined according to three definitions of ethnicity - ancestry, country of origin and primary language spoken..