Chinese SLE Treatment and Research group (CSTAR) registry: I. Major clinical characteristics of Chinese patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

The Chinese systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treatment and research group (CSTAR) provides major clinical characteristics of SLE in China and establishes a platform to provide resources for future basic and clinical studies. CSTAR originated as a multicentre, consecutive, and prospective design. The data were collected online from 104 rheumatology centers, which covered 30 provinces in China. The registered patients were required to meet four or more of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for the classification of SLE. All CSTAR centers use the same protocol-directed methods to provide uniform evaluations, which included demographic data, clinical features, laboratory examinations, and disease activity evaluations. The patient samples, including DNA samples and sera, were also collected for further quality controls and additional studies. Preliminary analysis from 2104 baseline evaluations was available for this analysis. Of 1914 female and 190 male patients (F:M=10.1), the mean age at onset was 29.2 y with confirmed diagnosis one year later at the age of 30.3 y. Eighty four (4.2%) of 2002 patients had a family history of rheumatic diseases, including 34 (1.7%) cases with SLE. In addition, one hundred and seven (5.2%) abnormal pregnancies were recorded among 2026 experiences. The characteristics of the CSTAR cohort were compared to similarly sized cohorts from other studies. We found that 56.1% of patients presented with concurrent hematological disorders compared to only 18.2% of European patients. Moreover, 47.4% of patients presented with nephropathy compared to 27.9% of European patients. Conversely, neurological manifestations were only seen in 4.8% of Chinese SLE patients compared to 19.4% of European patients, 12.1% of U.S. patients, 22.8% of Malaysian patients and 26.4% of Latin Americans. Pulmonary arterial hypertension and interstitial lung diseases were complications identified in 3.8% and 4.2% of Chinese lupus patients, respectively. The CSTAR registry has provided epidemiological data and phenotypes of Chinese patients with SLE, and has demonstrated several differences between ethnicities. Clinical data and biologic samples would be valuable resources for future translational studies with national and international collaboration.

Purtscher-like Retinopathy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

“…For instance, the prevalence of CNS lupus was 20% in this study, compared with 4.8% reported from a national registry study of ambulatory Chinese patients with SLE. 28 We speculate that Purtscher-like retinopathy is less common among ambulatory patients of SLE.…”

CRDC: a Chinese rheumatology research platform

“…Based on the SLE patients registered in the CRDC, papers on basic demographic characteristics and first symptom in Chinese SLE patients [5], risk factors of pulmonary hypertension [8], correlations between autoantibodies and clinical manifestations [9], and factors related to fetal loss [10] have been published. The SLE patients in the study of Li et al showed differing primary symptoms [5], of which rash, arthritis, fever, cytopenia, and kidney disease were the most common. Comparisons of clinical phenotypes in different cohorts are shown in Table 2 [11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…Therefore, diagnosis and treatment standards for Chinese patients are needed to guide physicians in clinical practice and ensure better care for patients with rheumatic diseases. After receiving financial support from the National Science and Technology Support Project in 2009, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) launched the Chinese Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Treatment and Research Group (CSTAR), initiated the research and development of the Chinese SLE Information System (CSIS) in collaboration with several other rheumatology centers in China, and established the national SLE registration standard and information-sharing mechanism among CSTAR members for follow-up and referral of patients to ensure the sustainability of research cohorts [5].…”

Systemic lupus erythematosus developed after a visit to solarium

“…В насто-ящее время показана чувствительность пациентов как к УФА, так и к УФИ, подтвержден также факт обнаружения антител к ДНК, денатурированной ультрафиолетом, у больных СКВ. Солнечная инсо-ляция может как предшествовать развитию заболе-вания, так и вызывать экзацербацию [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. При-водим собственное наблюдение.…”