The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / New Classification Criteria for SLE: Proposed ACR/EULAR Criteria aim for high sensitivity & specificity

New Classification Criteria for SLE: Proposed ACR/EULAR Criteria aim for high sensitivity & specificity

December 15, 2017 • By Susan Bernstein

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

SAN DIEGO—The proposed classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), supported but not yet approved by the ACR and EULAR, were debuted on Nov. 7 at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. An international steering committee developed and validated the criteria, with patient input and the consensus of more than 150 global SLE experts.

You Might Also Like
  • 2019 EULAR/ACR SLE Classification Criteria Offer Improved Sensitivity & Specificity
  • The ACR, EULAR Partner to Refine Classification System, Develop New SLE Criteria
  • New SLE Criteria Under Development: A Joint Effort of the ACR & EULAR
Also By This Author
  • Pitfalls of Potential Lupus Diagnosis

Rheumatology researchers referred to both the 1997 ACR revised criteria and 2012 Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) criteria when developing the new criteria, said Martin Aringer, MD, steering committee co-chair and chief of rheumatology at University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden, Germany.1 The committee set ambitious goals for the new criteria: to achieve higher sensitivity and specificity than previous criteria, account for lupus heterogeneity, incorporate manifestations to help identify early lupus patients and achieve worldwide consensus, using an expert-driven, data-driven methodology.2

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Classification criteria are designed to identify a homogeneous set of patients for inclusion in clinical trials and translational studies, not to diagnose patients. “Diagnosis is individual. We look for the perfect therapy based on the individual prognosis. For classification, the aim is totally different. In diagnosis, we are entitled to use all the information we can gather on an individual patient. For classification, it has to be a feasible set of objective criteria,” Dr. Aringer said.

Although sensitivity is extremely critical for diagnosis to select therapies, it can be annoying in classification, because it is acceptable to exclude one or two patients from a large trial, Dr. Aringer said. “Diagnosis can be questioned again if the disease does not perform the way you expect, but in classification, you typically cannot go back and change the inclusion or exclusion. So specificity is very important.”

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

In classification, common features are most important, said Dr. Aringer. Although each lupus patient is unique, all have autoantibodies to nuclear antigens (ANA), as well as many other autoantibodies, and evidence of immune complex deposition from histology to complement to interferon signature. This leads to many different organ manifestations in SLE.

“ANA has very high sensitivity, but its specificity is actually pretty low. For anti-Smith antibodies, it’s the other way around. So it doesn’t make sense to have them side by side in the criteria,” said Dr. Aringer. They hypothesized that ANA would be the entry criterion and then tested if that was feasible.

Many conditions have overlapping features with SLE, “but if two of these attributes are found together, especially in a patient who also has autoantibodies, it’s usually SLE,” he said.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Pages: 1 2 3 4 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, SLE (Lupus) Tagged With: 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, criteria, SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

You Might Also Like:
  • 2019 EULAR/ACR SLE Classification Criteria Offer Improved Sensitivity & Specificity
  • The ACR, EULAR Partner to Refine Classification System, Develop New SLE Criteria
  • New SLE Criteria Under Development: A Joint Effort of the ACR & EULAR
  • New Lupus Classification Criteria Presented at ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)