Session Information
Date: Sunday, October 26, 2025
Title: (0593–0640) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus – Diagnosis, Manifestations, & Outcomes Poster I
Session Type: Poster Session A
Session Time: 10:30AM-12:30PM
Background/Purpose: Previous studies have shown that male gender is an independent predictor of organ damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), particularly in the early stages of their disease.1,2 In the previous GLADEL cohort, male patients had a higher SLICC/ACR Damage Index (SDI) than their female counterparts, although this difference was not statistically significant.3 This study assessed organ damage, as measured by the SDI, as a function of gender in the GLADEL 2.0 cohort.
Methods: A total of 43 centers from 10 Latin American countries enrolled patients 18 years of age or older who met the 1982/1997 ACR and/or 2012 SLICC classification criteria. Descriptive analyses were conducted. An interaction analysis between gender and time was performed using a mixed-effects model in R. SDI was the dependent variable, while gender (between-subjects) and time (within-subjects) were the independent variables. A random intercept per participant was included to account for within-subject variability.Logistic regression modeling was used to examine the factors associated with changes in the SDI from baseline to the end of follow-up. A significance level of 5% was applied to all analyses and R version 4.4.0 software was used.
Results: Of the 1081 patients enrolled in the GLADEL 2.0 cohort, 385 patients matched by gender were considered. Of these, 190 completed at least four annual visits and were included in these analyses. Seventy percent of patients were women and 30% were men (Table 1). No statistically significant differences in organ damage, as measured by the SDI, were found between male and female patients (p=0.563). This trend remained consistent throughout the follow-up period, with no significant interactions observed (p=0.90). Damage accumulation over time increased significantly in both sexes (Figure 1A). The affected SDI domain frequency was examined both at baseline and during follow-up (Figure 1B). In general, males had a higher occurrence of ocular and cutaneous, and a moderate increase in malignant involvement compared to females, whereas females had a higher frequency of gastrointestinal, gonadal failure, pulmonary, peripheral vascular and musculoskeletal involvement. After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical/immunologic characteristics, multivariate analysis revealed that disease duration (odds ratio [OR]: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.0-1.1) and disease activity, as measured by the SLEDAI-2K (OR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.0-1.1), were associated with a higher likelihood of an increase in SDI.
Conclusion: Although male gender was not associated with an increased risk of damage accumulation, the proportion of patients with an increased SDI was higher in males than in females. Organ damage during follow-up increased significantly in both sexes. As patients in this cohort continue to be closely monitored, the impact of gender on damage accumulation may become more evident. References: Bruce IN, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74:1706-13.Andrade RM, et al. Arthritis Rheum. 2007;56:622-30.García MA, et al. Lupus. 2005;14;938-046.
Table 1. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with SLE by gender
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Figure 1. (A) Mean SLICC/ACR score and (B) frequency of manifestations by SDI area by gender and follow-up time
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Fernandez D, Quintana R, Roberts K, Nieto R, Scolnik M, Funes Soaje C, OTADUY C, Saurit V, Arturi V, BERBOTTO G, Bertolaccini M, Kerzberg M, Gargiulo M, Pisoni C, Ralle A, Serventi J, Silva A, MONTICIELO O, Mariz H, Alves Alvino L, Borba E, Figueiredo Neves Yuki E, Torres dos Reis-Neto E, Guerra Herrera I, Mimica M, Aroca-Martínez G, Iglesias-Gamarra A, Cañas C, Quintana-Lopez G, Toro-Gutierrez C, Moreno Alvarez M, Vera-Lastra O, Portela Hernández M, Fragoso-Loyo H, Silveira L, Gonzalez Bello Y, Abud-Mendoza C, Esquivel Valerio J, Barrios M, Vázquez L, Alva Linares M, Ugarte-Gil M, Calvo A, Muñoz-Louis R, Pizzarossa A, Silveira G, Zazzetti F, Orillion A, Sbarigia U, Pons-Estel G. Effect of Gender and Follow-up Time in Damage Accrual: Data from a Latin America Lupus Cohort [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2025; 77 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/effect-of-gender-and-follow-up-time-in-damage-accrual-data-from-a-latin-america-lupus-cohort/. Accessed .« Back to ACR Convergence 2025
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/effect-of-gender-and-follow-up-time-in-damage-accrual-data-from-a-latin-america-lupus-cohort/