Ethnicity, age influence risk of development of lupus nephritis in patients with SLE

Non-Caucasian ethnicity and younger age at diagnosis are associated with risk of developing lupus nephritis (LN) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), according to a retrospective survival analysis.

There were 496 patients included in this study.
-18.3% (n = 91) died
-33.3% (n = 165) developed LN
-6.7% (n = 33) developed end-stage renal failure

There was no difference between men and women in mortality or development of LN.

Compared to other ethnic groups, Caucasian patients were significantly less likely to develop LN, however Caucasian patients were not less likely to die.

Patients who were diagnosed before a median age of 28 years were significantly more likely to develop LN but significantly less likely to die during the period of observation in this study.

Compared to patients diagnosed between 1978-1989, patients diagnosed between 2006-2011 had a significant improvement in survival.

Reference
Luo W, Farinha F, Isenberg DA, et al. Survival analysis of mortality and development of lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus up to 40-years of follow-up. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022;keac218. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac218. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35412595.