Laboratory medicine in pediatric lupus

Abstract

Pediatric lupus encompasses a broad variety of clinical manifestations of a systemic disease. Routine laboratory testing, autoantibodies, and complement levels can confirm the diagnosis and help monitoring and therapy of the disease, to ultimately improve outcomes. Additionally, tests can help to identify subsets of patients with specific risk factors and/or the involvement of selected organs/systems. The availability, refinement and accuracy of laboratory tests are instrumental to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of pediatric lupus patients.