PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - A J Swaak
AU  - J Groenwold
AU  - L A Aarden
AU  - L W Statius van Eps
AU  - E W Feltkamp
TI  - Prognostic value of anti-dsDNA in SLE.
AID  - 10.1136/ard.41.4.388
DP  - 1982 Aug 01
TA  - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
PG  - 388--395
VI  - 41
IP  - 4
4099  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/41/4/388.short
4100  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/41/4/388.full
SO  - Ann Rheum Dis1982 Aug 01; 41
AB  - In a prospective longitudinal study 130 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were studied at least monthly for a relationship between the anti-dsDNA levels and disease activity. We observed 13 patients who developed 15 periods of exacerbations of their disease. All 15 exacerbations were preceded by a continuous increase of the anti-dsDNA levels. In 13 of the 15 exacerbations studied the exacerbation was preceded by an increase of anti-dsDNA with a doubling time (T2) of less than 6 weeks; in 4 of the 5 other exacerbations the T2 was less than 10 weeks. Four other patients with an increase of the anti-dsDNA levels showed no exacerbation. In these 4 patients the T2 was larger than 10 weeks. The other 113 patients did not show an increase of anti-dsDNA over the 2 years of monitoring and showed no signs of serious disease activity (no major symptoms). These observations suggest that an SLE patient who is followed up frequently and who shows a continuous increase of anti-dsDNA witha T2 shorter than 10 weeks is bound to develop an exacerbation.