Comparison of Spot Urine Protein to Creatinine Ratio to 24-Hour Proteinuria to Identify Important Change Over Time in Proteinuria in Lupus.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether spot urine protein-to-creatinine ratio (PCR) accurately measures the change in proteinuria compared with 24-hour proteinuria (24H-P). METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis on patients' paired visits and paired urine samples for PCR and 24H-P. Patients with both abnormal 24H-P (>0.5 g/d) and PCR (>0.05 g/mmol) or both normal 24H-P (≤0.5 g/d) and PCR (≤0.05 g/mmol) at baseline visit were identified.The first follow-up visit with partial recovery (50% decrease in proteinuria) or complete recovery (≤0.5 g/d) was identified for those with abnormal baseline 24H-P, and new proteinuria (>0.5 g/d) was identified for those with normal 24H-P. Twenty-four-hour urine collection and PCR end-point frequencies were compared. Twenty-four-hour urine collection results were converted to 24H-PCR. Twenty-four-hour PCR and PCR were utilized to measure the magnitude of change (by standardized response mean [SRM]) in patients who achieved the end points. RESULTS: Of 230 patients, at baseline, 95 patients had abnormal and 109 had normal 24H-P and PCR. On follow-up, 57 achieved partial recovery, and 53 achieved complete recovery by 24H-P. Standardized response mean was -1.03 and -1.10 for 24H-PCR and PCR, respectively. By PCR, 53 patients had partial recovery, and 27 had complete recovery. Standardized response mean was -1.25 and -0.86 by 24H-PCR and PCR, respectively.For new proteinuria, 28 patients were identified by 24H-P and 21 by PCR. Twenty-four-hour PCR SRM was 0.80, and PCR SRM was 0.68. CONCLUSIONS: Protein-to-creatinine ratio does not have sufficient accuracy compared with 24H-P for improvement and worsening to be used in lieu of 24H-P.

Prevalence and associated factors of resting electrocardiogram abnormalities among systemic lupus erythematosus patients without cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Electrocardiogram (ECG) cardiovascular disease (CVD) abnormalities (ECG-CVD) are predictive of subsequent CVD events in the general population. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are vulnerable to CVD. We aimed to determine the prevalence of ECG-CVD in SLE patients and to examine the risk factors associated with ECG-CVD. METHODS: A 12-lead resting supine ECG was performed on consecutive adult patients attending the clinic. One cardiologist interpreted the ECGs. ECG-CVD were defined as the presence of one or more of the following 4 elements (ECG-4): ST-segment and/or T-wave abnormalities, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), left axis deviation (LAD), left bundle branch block (LBBB) and right bundle branch block (RBBB). ECG-5 included the same elements as ECG-4 and the Q-wave. Repeated measurement data were created and the associations between ECG-4/ECG-5 and demographics were evaluated with univariate and multivariate Cox regression models. RESULTS: Of 487 SLE patients, 104 (21.4%) and 118 (24.2%) patients had one or more of the ECG-4 and ECG-5 elements, respectively. A higher prevalence of ECG-CVD was found in patients with a longer SLE disease duration, and the burden of ECG-CVD elements increased with age. Increased age, active SLE disease, and damage were associated with ECG4 and ECG-5, while treatment of hyperlipidemia was protective. CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of ECG-4 (21.4%) and ECG-5 (24.2%) was found in this SLE cohort. Controlling SLE disease activity is important since it was associated with ECG-4 and ECG-5. Early identification of ECG-4 and ECG-5 in SLE patients might allow for better stratification and risk management.

The utility of lupus serology in predicting outcomes of renal transplantation in lupus patients: Systematic literature review and analysis of the Toronto lupus cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To study the utility of lupus serology as a predictor for kidney graft outcome in (a) a systematic literature review (SLR) and (b) the Toronto lupus cohort (TLC). METHODS: For the SLR, a comprehensive literature search was performed to identify the articles reporting on the serology at renal transplantation (RT) and on the outcome of RT. Studies were critically appraised using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS). Patients who underwent RT in the TLC were identified and grouped into graft failure and graft survival. The serology in both groups was studied. RESULTS: Of the 749 references, 742 did not have serological status of the patient or were not relevant to the research question. Seven studies in addition to TLC (n = 76) were included in the SLR. The NOS revealed limitations because of small sample size and a short follow-up period. The majority of the grafts survived to at least 1 year regardless of the serology results pre-transplant which is consistent with results of the TLC. Overall, 32 of 1783 patients in the TLC had a RT. In all, 2 patients had a nonfunctional graft, 5 patients had graft failure, and 25 patients had graft survival. Overall, 40% of the graft failures had positive serology compared to 52% in the graft survival, 1 year prior to RT. CONCLUSION: The results of this SLR found that the persistence of serological abnormalities at the time of RT was not associated with graft failure. These results are consistent with the results of the TLC.

Utility of untimed single urine protein/creatinine ratio as a substitute for 24-h proteinuria for assessment of proteinuria in systemic lupus erythematosus.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, we determined: (1) the utility of an untimed sample of urine protein/creatinine ratio (PCR) as a screening test for proteinuria, (2) its ability to accurately measure proteinuria, and (3) cutoff values for PCR predicting protein content in a 24-h urine collection sample (24hP) of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g/day. METHODS: Analysis was performed on data from a single lupus cohort (2008-2014). Proteinuria was measured in a 24hP and with PCR. On the basis of 24hP, samples were divided into 4 groups: group 1, <0.5 g/day; group 2, 0.5-0.99 g/day; group 3, 1-1.99 g/day; and group 4, ≥2 g/day. To determine the validity of PCR in screening for proteinuria, the Pearson correlation coefficient was determined for the urine samples with normal PCR (<0.05 g/mmol) and normal 24hP (<0.5 g/day). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of PCR were calculated. To determine the ability of PCR to accurately measure the level of proteinuria, in addition to the correlation between 24hP and PCR, agreement was determined by intraclass correlation coefficient, concordance correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman plot between 24hP/24hC and PCR. The best cutoffs for PCR predicting a 24hP of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g/day were determined with the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: The correlation of the samples with normal PCR as well as 24hP (n = 552) was 0.29 (p < 0.0001). PCR sensitivity and specificity against 24hP were 91 % and 83 %, respectively. The PPV was 82.5 %, and the NPV was 91.4 %. The correlation for all samples (n = 1233) was high, but low to moderate for groups 1, 2, 3, and 4. The agreement for all samples was appropriate but poor for groups 1, 2, 3, and 4. PCR cutoffs for 24hP of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 g/day were 0.08, 0.16, and 0.35 g/mmol, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PCR can be used as a screening test for proteinuria, and the best cutoff value to predict a 24hP of 0.5 g/day is 0.08 g/mmol (800 mg/g). The accurate level of proteinuria should be measured by the gold standard test, 24hP.