Session Information
Date: Sunday, November 8, 2015
Title: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus - Clinical Aspects and Treatment Poster Session I
Session Type: ACR Poster Session A
Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM
ACR Abstract – A Paper Patient-Based Flare Study in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
Isenberg D, Sturgess J, Allan E, Aranow C, Aringer M, Askanase A, Sang-Cheol B, Bernatsky S, Bruce I, Buyon J, Cervera R, Chambers S, Cortedoat-Chalumeau N, Croca S, Clarke A, Dooley Mary Anne, Fortin P, Giles I, Ginzler E, Gladman D, Gordon C, Griffiths B, Hanly J, Inanc M, Jacobsen S, Kamen D, Khamashta M, Lanyon P, Lim, Manzi S, Moreland E, Mosca M, Nived O, Peschken C, Petri M, Kalunian K, Rahman A, Ramsey-Goldman R, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Sanchez-Guerrero J, Schneider M, Steinsson K, Sturfet G, Urowitz M, van Vollenhoven R, Vasconcelos C, Wallace D, Zoma A, Merrill J
Background/Purpose:
Data are restricted with regard to the usefulness of activity indices when assessing flares in patients with SLE. One study of 16 flaring SLE patients provided modest encouragement (1) but a recent cohort review (2) indicated that medication changes may not be appropriate in defining the degrees of flare. We now report assessments of flares from 989 SLE case histories provided by rheumatologists from over 30 centres in 10 different countries.
Methods:
Each case history was abstracted from medical records of real patients and provided together with an opinion as to whether each patient was experiencing a severe, moderate or mild flare or ‘ongoing/grumbling’ disease. Two further opinions were sought on each case history from the panel of rheumatologists and ultimately 451 patient histories, for which there was complete agreement about their flare status were selected for further study. Six different pairs of rheumatologists, were each asked to agree the assessments of approximately 30 cases using BILAG 2004 or SELENA-SLEDAI flare indices or the revised SELENA flare index.
Results:
For all three tools, the Flare classification generated by each, matched the consensus view of the cases in a similar proportion of times [BILAG-2004 – 66%; SELENA Flare – 65%; SELENA-SLEDAI – 75%; the slightly higher rate in the SELENA-SLEDAI being due to the single mild/moderate category].The corresponding weighted kappas for each tool were BILAG 0:82; SELENA flare 0.64; SELENA-SLEDAI 0.59).
Of particular note was a consistent pattern across all three tools of over-scoring moderate flares as severe. Closer examination of the data suggests that this over-scoring is driven by treatment. Removal of treatment decisions from the assessment of flare using the SELENA-Flare and SELENA-SLEDAI tools led to an increase in the proportion of correctly assessed cases to 72% and 80% respectively (weighted kappa; 0.68 and 0.74).
Conclusion:
Distinguishing different types of flare in patients with SLE remains a challenge. Given the difficulty caused by the inadequate provision of data in some of the case histories (making accurate BILAG assessment in particular problematic on occasion) the results are nevertheless very encouraging.
The overall performance characteristics of these flare instruments suggest that they can be useful in clinical trials where results are studied at the group level, whereas in clinical flare assessment must still be based on clinical judgement.
1. Isenberg D et a. Am Rheum Dis 2011; 70; 54
2. Thanou et al. Rheumatology 2014; 53; 2175
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Sturgess J, Allan E, Isenberg DA, Aranow C, Aringer M, Askanase A, Bae SC, R Bernatsky S, Bruce IN, Buyon JP, Cervera R, Clarke A, Dooley MA, Fortin PR, Giles I, Ginzler EM, Gladman D, Gordon C, Griffiths B, Hanly JG, Inanc M, Jacobsen S, Kamen DL, Khamashta M, Lanyon P, Lim SS, Manzi S, Mosca M, Nived O, Peschken CA, Petri M, Kalunian KC, Rahman A, Ramsey-Goldman R, Ruiz-Irastorza G, Sánchez-Guerrero J, Schneider M, Steinsson K, Sturfelt GK, Urowitz M, van Vollenhoven RF, Vasconcelos C, Wallace DJ, Zoma A, Merrill JT, Morand E, Chambers S, Costedoat-Chalumeau N, Croca S. A Paper Patient-Based Flare Study in SLE [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/a-paper-patient-based-flare-study-in-sle/. Accessed .« Back to 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/a-paper-patient-based-flare-study-in-sle/