Abstract

Objective: To assess the long-term outcome of lupus nephritis in children with systemic lupus erythematosus followed up over 12 years at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Eastern India.

Material and Methods: This is a retrospective observational study of the clinicopathological presentation, management, and outcome in 46 children with lupus nephritis over a period of 12 years at a tertiary teaching hospital in Eastern India. Mortality was compared between different lupus classes and therapy groups with Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test

Results: The incidence of lupus nephritis was 58.97% [95% confidence interval (CI) 48.06%–59.89%] with the mean age at presentation being 10.2±2.43 years (range 5.5–14.5) years. Majority belonged to class IV (30.43%), followed by class II (26.91%), class III (23.91), and class V (8.70%). Outcome analysis of children with lupus nephritis over 12 years revealed that 24 (52.17%) achieved complete remission of disease activity, 5 attained partial remission, 4 continued to have active disease, 5 developed end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and 8 died. Overall mortality thus observed was 17.39% with septicemia in the background of ESRD being the commonest cause. No significant difference in mortality was observed between different lupus nephritis classes or therapy arm groups.

Conclusion: The study throws light on various aspects of lupus nephritis and their long-term outcome patterns in children from developing countries such as India. 

Cite this article as: Samanta M, Nandi M, Mondal R, Hazra A, Sarkar S, Sabui T. Childhood lupus nephritis: 12 years of experience from a developing country’s perspective. Eur J Rheumatol 2017; 4: 178-83.