European Society of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (EUSCLE)

European Society of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus e.V.

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic

Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous

Treatments

Procedure: laboratory analysis

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00420121

2742-2

Details and patient eligibility

About

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a disease with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and a variable prognosis. The aim of the study is to create a standardized evaluation of the different subtypes of this disease in order to receive an overview of the spectrum of clinical and laboratory features as well as the therapeutic strategies for patients with CLE.

Full description

Methods: A core set questionnaire has been developed in the course of the "European Society of Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus (EUSCLE)", and a total of 40 patients (32 females, 8 males) in two centres, Germany and Sweden, were included in this study. Results: CLE was diagnosed in 39 individuals (5 with acute CLE, 10 with subacute CLE, 13 with chronic CLE, and 18 with intermittent CLE) and one individual presented with a systemic manifestation of the disease. Furthermore, disease onset and duration as well as activity and damage of skin lesions using a modified CLASI were examined. Interestingly, 75% of the patients with CLE showed a positive history of photosensitivity, but only 62.5% exhibited characteristic lesions after standardized phototesting. Laboratory analysis revealed positive antinuclear antibodies in 50% of the patients, positive anti-Ro/SSA in 12 and positive anti-La/SSB antibodies in 8 cases. The predominantly used treatments included sunscreens (38 patients), topical steroids (31 patients), topical calcineurin inhibitors (12 patients), chloroquine (19 patients), hydroxychloroquine (11 patients), and systemic steroids (12 patients). Conclusions: The new core set questionnaire enables the clinician to characterize the different skin manifestations involved in CLE and to evaluate disease activity and reasonable treatment modalities. Furthermore, epidemiological data and laboratory features can be assessed for the various subtypes. In the future, this standardized evaluation might lead to the development of diagnostic guidelines and evidence based therapeutic strategies thus improving quality of care for patients with CLE.

Enrollment

300 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria