Our results indicate that SLE patients present with different clinical and serological manifestations according to age at disease onset. JSLE patients have more severe disease activity and more frequent renal involvement and LSLE patients have milder disease activity, more commonly accompanied by Sjögren's syndrome, at disease onset.

Objectives The survival rate of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus has improved in the last few decades, but the rate of hospitalization and health care costs for these patients remain higher than in the general population. Thus, we evaluated the rate of hospitalization and associated risk factors in an inception cohort of Korean patients with lupus. Methods Of the 507 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus enrolled in the KORean lupus NETwork, we investigated an inception cohort consisting of 196 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus presenting within 6 months of diagnosis based on the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria. We evaluated the causes of hospitalization, demographic characteristics, and laboratory and clinical data at the time of systemic lupus erythematosus diagnosis of hospitalized patients and during a follow-up period. We calculated the hospitalization rate as the number of total hospitalizations divided by the disease duration, and defined "frequent hospitalization" as hospitalization more than once per year. Results Of the 196 patients, 117 (59.6%) were admitted to hospital a total of 257 times during the 8-year follow-up period. Moreover, 22 (11.2%) patients were hospitalized frequently. The most common reasons for hospitalization included disease flares, infection, and pregnancy-related morbidity. In the univariate regression analysis, malar rash, arthritis, pericarditis, renal involvement, fever, systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index > 12, hemoglobin level < 10 mg/dl, albumin level < 3.5 mg/dl, and anti-Sjögren's syndrome A positivity were associated with frequent hospitalization. Finally, multivariate analysis showed that arthritis, pericarditis, and anti-Sjögren's syndrome A antibody positivity at the time of diagnosis were risk factors for frequent hospitalization. Conclusions Our results showed that frequent hospitalization occurred in 11.2% of hospitalized patients and arthritis, pericarditis, and anti-Sjögren's syndrome A antibody positivity at the time of diagnosis were risk factors for frequent hospitalization.

FM patients can be clustered into four distinct subgroups based on clinically measurable variables - pain, physical involvement, psychological function and social support. These subgroups had different clinical symptoms and medication profiles.

ObjectivesWe assessed whether grip strength was related to various types of radiographic damage in Korean adults with osteoarthritis (OA).MethodsData from 2,251 subjects enrolled in the Dong-gu study, who had no hand joint pain, were analyzed to investigate the relationship between grip strength and OA. Hand grip strength was measured using a hand-held dynamometer, and radiographs of the hand and knee were scored according to a semi-quantitative grading system. Multiple linear regressions were used to explore associations between grip strength and radiographic features of OA.ResultsGrip strength in men and women was negatively related to hand (both p < 0.001) and knee (men, p < 0.001; women, p = 0.010) OA after adjusting for confounders. Hand (men, p < 0.001; women, p = 0.001) and knee (both p < 0.001) joint space narrowing (JSN) showed the strongest associations with low grip strength, regardless of gender. Moreover, the severity of hand osteophytes in women (p = 0.001), and subchondral cysts (men, p < 0.001) was correlated with low grip strength in both genders.ConclusionsAmong subjects without hand joint pain, low grip strength was associated significantly with hand and knee radiographic OA, regardless of gender. Among all types of OA radiographic damage, low grip strength showed the strongest association with JSN.

Separate analysis of the radiographic features of OA better reveals associations of OA with the BMD of the lumbar spine and femoral neck.