Author/Editor		Vitali, C; Bencivelli, W; Isenberg, DA; Smolen, JS; Snaith, ML; Sciuto, M; Neri, R; Bombardieri, S; Rozman, B
Title		Disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus: report of the Consensus study group of the European workshop for rheumatology research. II. Identification of the variables indicative of disease activity and their use inthe development of an activity score
Type		članek
Source		Clin Exp Rheumatol
Vol. and No.		Letnik 10, št. 5
Publication year		1992
Volume		str. 541-7
Language		eng
Abstract		A Europepan concensus group study, involving 29 centers from 14 countries, was performed in order to teach agreement on the definition diseases activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to construct a new disease index. Data on 704 lupus patients were collected and analysed, using univariate and multivariate statistical procedures, to select those clinical and laboratory features of the disorder which best correlate with the global assessment of disease activity assigned to the patients by the physician of each participating centre. A combination of 15 clinical and laboratory variables was shown to be the best predictor of disease activity in SLE. A European concensus lupus activity measaurement (ECLAM) was then formulated. This index included the 15 selected variables, weighted (with some adjustments) according to their respective regression coefficients in the multivariate model. ECLAM appears to be an effective instrument for scoring patients with different degrees of disease activity. This is the first SLE disease activity index based on data from a very large number of lupus patients followed at a large number of lupus centres in different countries. It might therefore very well serve as a standardised measure for future European clinical studies. Final assessment of the validity, reliability and sensitivity of this index is now underway.
Descriptors		LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS, SYSTEMIC SEVERITY OF ILLNESS INDEX EUROPE MULTICENTER STUDIES MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS