The current role for clinical and renal histological findings as predictor for outcome in Australian patients with lupus nephritis

ObjectivesTo investigate the current demographic, clinical and histological characteristics of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) in Western Australia (WA) with regards to their predictive value for patient and renal outcome.MethodsRetrospective study of adult systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with a first renal biopsy demonstrating LN between 1997 and 2017 at a metropolitan tertiary hospital in WA. Clinical data were collected at baseline and last follow-up with renal biopsy findings classified by International Society of Nephrology (ISN) criteria. Annual incidence rates (AIRs)/100,000, Kaplan–Meyer curves and Cox regression hazard ratio for independent predictors for patient and renal survival were applied.ResultsThe AIR was 3.3, 3.1 and 0.4 for Asian (n = 29), Indigenous Australian (IA) (n = 11) and Caucasian (n = 43) patients, respectively (p < 0.01). There was no significant subgroup difference regarding ISN class (proliferative 66%, membranous 19%, mesangial 15%), levels of proteinuria (me...