Summary
The present paper is a description of 148 patients with circulating antinuclear antibodies and multisystemic disease filed during 18 years by one of the authors and followed up to date in 1981–83. Seventy-eight per cent of the patients satisfied the 1971 ARA criteria for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus and 92 per cent fulfilled the 1982 ARA criteria. Eighty-five per cent were women, the mean age at onset of SLE was 32 years. Malar rash and arthritis were early manifestations in 80 per cent of the patients whereas the onset of nephropathy, CNS manifestations, serositis, and peripheral cytopenia was delayed in about half of the patients. Nephropathy and thrombocytopenia were observed particularly in the youngest patients. The mean duration of the observation period was 8 years. The 10-year-survival was 80 per cent. Half of the deaths were presumably unrelated to SLE. The mean ages at entry of patients who died of SLE and of unrelated causes were 30 and 52 years respectively. Eighteen per cent of the deaths were caused by uremia and 18 per cent by infections. The total and the SLE related mortalities were evenly distributed throughout the observation period. The morbidity (incidence of new ARA criteria and other findings indicating active disease) decreased during the first year of observation but rarely subsided completely during the following years. All patients observed for more than 10 years showed evidence of active disease during the rest of the observation period and most showed evidence of renal disease.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Harvey, A.M., Schulman, L.E., Tumulty, P.A., Conley, C.L., Schoenrich, E.H. Systemic lupus erythematosus: Review of the literature and clinical analysis of 138 cases. Medicine 1954, 33, 291–437.
Merrell, M., Schulman, L.E. Determination of prognosis in chronic disease illustrated by systemic lupus erythematosus. J Chron Dis 1955, 1, 12–32.
Cohen, A.S., Reynolds, E.W., Franklin, E.C., Kulka, J.P., Ropes, M.W., Schulman, L.E., Wallace, S.L. Preliminary criteria for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus. Bull Rheum Dis 1971, 21, 643–648.
Tan, E.M., Cohen, A.S., Fries, J.F., Masi, A., McShane, D.J., Rothfield, N.F., Schaller, J.G., Talal, N., Winchester, R.J. The 1982 revised criteria for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum, 1982, 25, 1271–77.
Steinberg, A.D. Systemic lupus erythematosus: Insights from animal models. NIH conference. Ann Intern Med 1984, 100, 714–727.
Ginzler, E., Diamond, H.S., Weiner, M., Schlesinger, M., Fries, J.F., Wasner, C., Medsger, T.A., Ziegler, G., Klippel, J.H., Hadler, N.M., Albert, D.A., Hess, E.V., Spencer-Green, G., Grayzel, A., Worth, D., Hahn, B.H., Barnett, E.V.: A multicenter study of outcome in systemic lupus erythematosus. I: Entry variables as predictors of prognosis. Arthritis Rheum 1982, 25, 601–611.
Estes, D., Christian, A.L.: The natural history of systemic lupus erythematosus by prospective analysis. Medicine 1971, 50, 85–95.
Hochberg, M.C., Dorsch, C.A., Feinglass, E.J., Stevens, M.B. Survivorship in systemic lupus erythematosus. Effect of antibody to extractable nuclear antigen. Arthritis Rheum 1981, 24, 1.
Urman, J.D., Rothfield, N. Corticoid treatment in systemic lupus erythematosus. JAMA 1977, 238, 2272–76.
Fessel, W.J. Systemic lupus erythematosus in the community. Arch Intern Med 1974, 134, 1027–35.
Fries, J.F., Holman, H.R.: Systemic lupus erythematosus. A clinical analysis. Saunders, Philadelphia 1975.
Ginzler, E., Diamond, H., Kaplan, D., Weiner, M., Schlesinger, M., Seleznick, M. Computer analysis of factors influencing frequency of infection in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum 1978, 21, 37–44.
Halberg, P., Alsbjørn, B., Trolle Balsløv, J., Gerstoft, J., Lorenzen, I., Ullman, S., Wiik, A. Systemic lupus erythematosus: Follow-up study of 148 patients. II: Predictive factors for course and outcome. Clin Rheumatol. 1987, 1, 22–26.
Danmarks Statistik and Kommunedata I/S, Ballerup, Denmark.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Halberg, P., Alsbjørn, B., Balsløv, J.T. et al. Systemic lupus erythematosus: Follow-up study of 148 patients. I: Classification, clinical and laboratory findings, course and outcome. Clin Rheumatol 6, 13–21 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02200995
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02200995