title: Activity criteria in systemic lupus erythematosus.
abstract: Several clinical indices have been proposed to measure disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disorder characterised by alternate phases of flare and remission. Over the last 5 years a European multicenter study was carried out in order to reach a consensus on the definition of SLE activity. A new index, ECLAM (European Consensus Lupus Activity Measurement), was created and then validated in the first and in the second parts of the study, respectively. In addition, a comparison between ECLAM and the other most commonly used lupus activity indices was performed. ECLAM appeared to be the best activity index for classifying lupus patients, whether used as a single state index (i.e., to measure activity at a given moment in time) or as a transition index. (i.e., to measure variations in activity over time).
authors.affiliation: Clinical Immunology Unit, Istituto di Patologia Medica dell'Università di Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bombardieri
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vitali
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caponi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bencivelli
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index