Low Disease Activity Is Attainable Goal in New SLE Patients
Low disease activity state is an attainable target in the early treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with nearly 9 out of 10 patients able to achieve it, according to a study published online in the journal Rheumatology.
“Though with more difficulty, clinical remission on treatment can be achieved in two-thirds of our patients,” researchers wrote.
The study evaluated the attainability of lupus low disease activity state and several categories of remission in a treatment-naïve cohort of patients with SLE. The study included 218 patients from Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, China.
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Over a median follow-up of nearly 4.5 years, 87.2% of patients achieved lupus low disease activity state, and 73.4% achieved lupus low disease activity state with a prednisone dose ≤5 mg/day, according to the study. The median time to each was 1.4 years and 2.3 years, respectively.
Nearly 70% of patients achieved clinical remission on treatment during follow-up, 43.1% achieved complete clinical remission on treatment, 10.6% achieved clinical remission off treatment, and 8.3% achieved complete clinical remission off treatment, researchers reported.
The median time to achieve clinical remission on treatment was 2.6 years. It took a median 4.7 years for patients to attain complete clinical remission on treatment.
“Clinical remission off treatment,” researchers wrote, “may not be an ideal treatment target at present as it is only attained in few patients.”
—Jolynn Tumolo
Reference
Gao D, Hao Y, Mu L, et al. Frequencies and predictors of the Lupus Low Disease Activity State and remission in treatment-naïve patients with systemic lupus erythematosus [published online ahead of print Apr 26, 2020]. Rheumatology. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keaa120
