These researchers sought to determine risk factors for lupus nephritis including clinical, laboratory, and ethnic factors in a cohort of lupus patients from two teaching hospitals in Auckland, New Zealand, after attending as either an inpatient, or a rheumatology outpatient between 2000 and 2005. 170 patients met American College of Rheumatology (ACR) systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classification criteria. Clinical, laboratory, and ethnic data were gathered from the patient notes. Twenty-four patients had lupus nephritis (LN) at diagnosis and 32 patients developed LN after diagnosis. Significant associations were observed between LN and the following variables; serositis, cutaneous vasculitis, anaemia, elevated CRP at >6 months after diagnosis, and hypocomplementaemia at >6 months after diagnosis. Patients with high doublestranded DNA (>5 x normal) were significantly more likely to develop type IV LN. Forty-one percent of patients were Caucasian, 12% Mäori, 23% Pacific People, 16% Asian, 6% Indian. The risk for developing LN was higher for Mäori patients with SLE (odds ratio [OR] 8.47), and Pacific People (OR 3.11). Independent risk factors for developing LN after SLE diagnosis included anaemia at presentation (hazard ratio [HR] 3.2) and a low complement at >6 months (HR 3.4).
