| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EXTENDED REPORTS |
1 Internal Medicine, and Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Allergy, University of Crete School of Medicine, Heraklion, Greece
2 Clinical Trials and Evidence-Based Medicine Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece
3 Department of Nephrology and Transplantation Medicine, Laiko Hospital, Athens, Greece
4 Cattedra di Reumatologia, Universita di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
5 Department of Autoimmune Diseases, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
6 Institute of Rheumatology, Prague, Czech Republic
7 Department of Rheumatology, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
8 Rheumatology Department, Université catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium
9 Department of Rheumatology Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
10 Centre for Rheumatology, University College London Hospitals, London, UK
11 Department of Clinical Immunology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
12 Lupus Research Unit, The Rayne Institute, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK
13 Service de Médecine Interne, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
14 Rheumatolology, Clinic of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Rheumatology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, Germany
15 Department of Rheumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
16 Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden
17 Rheumatologia e Immunologia Clinica, Ospedale Civile di Brescia, Italy
18 Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden
19 Centre for Immune Regulation, Division of Immunity and Infection, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Correspondence to:
D T Boumpas, Departments of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, University of Crete School of Medicine, 71003, Heraklion, Greece; boumpasd{at}med.uoc.gr
Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex disease with variable presentations, course and prognosis. We sought to develop evidence-based recommendations addressing the major issues in the management of SLE.
Methods: The EULAR Task Force on SLE comprised 19 specialists and a clinical epidemiologist. Key questions for the management of SLE were compiled using the Delphi technique. A systematic search of PubMed and Cochrane Library Reports was performed using McMaster/Hedges clinical queries’ strategies for questions related to the diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and treatment of SLE. For neuropsychiatric, pregnancy and antiphospholipid syndrome questions, the search was conducted using an array of relevant terms. Evidence was categorised based on sample size and type of design, and the categories of available evidence were identified for each recommendation. The strength of recommendation was assessed based on the category of available evidence, and agreement on the statements was measured across the 19 specialists.
Results: Twelve questions were generated regarding the prognosis, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of SLE, including neuropsychiatric SLE, pregnancy, the antiphospholipid syndrome and lupus nephritis. The evidence to support each proposition was evaluated and scored. After discussion and votes, the final recommendations were presented using brief statements. The average agreement among experts was 8.8 out of 10.
Conclusion: Recommendations for the management of SLE were developed using an evidence-based approach followed by expert consensus with high level of agreement among the experts.
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J P Buyon, A Brucato, and D M Friedman What's in a name? Ann Rheum Dis, May 1, 2008; 67(5): 732 - 732. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |
