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Objective To examine the frequency, characteristics, and outcome of mood disorders, as well as clinical and autoantibody associations, in a multiethnic/racial, prospective inception cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Patients were assessed annually for mood disorders (4 types, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) and 18 other neuropsychiatric events. Global disease activity scores (SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 [SLEDAI-2K]), damage scores (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index [SDI]), and Short Form 36 subscales, mental and physical component summary scores were collected. Time to event, linear and ordinal regressions, and multi-state models were used as appropriate. Results Among the 1,827 patients with SLE, 88.9% were female, and 48.9% were Caucasian. The mean ± SD age of the patients was 35.1 ± 13.3 years, disease duration was 5.6 ± 4.8 months, and the length of followup was 4.7 ± 3.5 years. During the course of the study, 863 (47.2%) of the 1,827 patients had 1,627 neuropsychiatric events. Mood disorders occurred in 232 (12.7%) of 1,827 patients, and 98 (38.3%) of 256 mood disorder events were attributed to SLE. The estimated cumulative incidence of any mood disorder after 10 years was 17.7% (95% confidence interval 15.1, 20.2%). A greater risk of mood disorder was associated with concurrent neuropsychiatric events ( P ≤ 0.01), and a lower risk was associated with Asian race/ethnicity ( P = 0.01) and treatment with immunosuppressive drugs ( P = 0.003). Mood disorders were associated with lower mental health and mental component summary scores but not with the SLEDAI-2K, SDI, or lupus autoantibodies. Among the 232 patients with depression, 168 (72.4%) were treated with antidepressants. One hundred twenty-six (49.2%) of 256 mood disorders resolved in 117 (50.4%) of 232 patients. Conclusion Mood disorders, the second most frequent neuropsychiatric event in patients with SLE, have a negative impact on health-related quality of life and improve over time. The lack of association with global SLE disease activity, cumulative organ damage, and lupus autoantibodies emphasizes the multifactorial etiology of mood disorders and a role for non-lupus-specific therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To examine the frequency and characteristics of headaches and their association with global disease activity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods A disease inception cohort was assessed annually for headache (5 types) and 18 other neuropsychiatric (NP) events. Global disease activity scores (SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 [SLEDAI-2K]), damage scores (Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index [SDI]), and Short Form 36 (SF-36) mental and physical component summary scores were collected. Time to first headache and associations with SF-36 scores were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards and linear regression models with generalized estimating equations. Results Among the 1,732 SLE patients enrolled, 89.3% were female and 48.3% were white. The mean ± SD age was 34.6 ± 13.4 years, duration of disease was 5.6 ± 5.2 months, and length of followup was 3.8 ± 3.1 years. At enrollment, 17.8% of patients had headache (migraine [60.7%], tension [38.6%], intractable nonspecific [7.1%], cluster [2.6%], and intracranial hypertension [1.0%]). The prevalence of headache increased to 58% after 10 years. Only 1.5% of patients had lupus headache, as identified in the SLEDAI-2K. In addition, headache was associated with other NP events attributed to either SLE or non-SLE causes. There was no association of headache with SLEDAI-2K scores (without the lupus headache variable), SDI scores, use of corticosteroids, use of antimalarials, use of immunosuppressive medications, or specific autoantibodies. SF-36 mental component scores were lower in patients with headache compared with those without headache (mean ± SD 42.5 ± 12.2 versus 47.8 ± 11.3; P < 0.001), and similar differences in physical component scores were seen (38.0 ± 11.0 in those with headache versus 42.6 ± 11.4 in those without headache; P < 0.001). In 56.1% of patients, the headaches resolved over followup. Conclusion Headache is frequent in SLE, but overall, it is not associated with global disease activity or specific autoantibodies. Although headaches are associated with a lower HRQOL, the majority of headaches resolve over time, independent of lupus-specific therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To evaluate joint counts in patients with oligoarticular psoriatic arthritis (PsA) for their correlation with treatment decisions and to determine the proportion of patients in whom active disease was missed using reduced joint counts. Methods The international Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Composite Exercise cohort was used for this study. Oligoarthritis was defined as <5 tender and/or swollen joints. At baseline, a tender joint count (TJC) using 68 joints and a swollen joint count (SJC) using 66 joints (66/68-joint counts) were assessed. Reduced joint counts designed for use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including 28- and 44-joint counts, were analyzed. In addition, the following proposed joint counts for PsA were tested: the PsA-44 (which includes elbows, wrists, metacarpophalangeal joints, finger proximal interphalangeal [PIP] joints, distal interphalangeal joints, knees, and metatarsophalangeal joints) and the PsA-56 (which includes the same joints as those assessed for the PsA-44 plus ankles and toe PIP joints). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess whether joint counts predict treatment changes. The proportion of patients in whom active disease was missed using reduced joint counts designed for RA was also assessed. Results Among 503 patients recruited to the study, 266 (53%) had oligoarthritis. ROC curve analysis revealed that no TJC or active joint count (AJC), even a 66/68-joint count, predicted treatment change (for the TJC, area under the curve [AUC] 0.57, P = 0.125; for the AJC, AUC 0.56, P = 0.159). Use of the SJC in 66 joints did predict treatment change (AUC 0.62, P = 0.006), as did the SJC using the PsA-44 and the PsA-56 ( P < 0.03). Neither of the reduced joint counts designed for RA predicted treatment change. A 28-joint count designed for RA missed 21% of patients with tender joints (n = 29) and 27% of patients with swollen joints (n = 23). The PsA-44 and PsA-56 joint counts missed tender joints in 25 patients and 13 patients, respectively, and missed swollen joints in 11 patients and 2 patients, respectively. Conclusion Patients with oligoarticular PsA cannot be accurately assessed for active disease using reduced joint counts designed for RA. Full 66/68-joint counts should be performed to assess patients with PsA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Responder Index (SRI) when the SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K) is substituted with SLEDAI-2K Responder Index-50 (SRI-50), a valid and reliable index of disease activity improvement. Also, to determine whether the SRI-50 will enhance the ability of SRI in detecting responders., Methods: Our study was conducted on patients who attended the Lupus Clinic from September 2009 to September 2010. SLEDAI-2K, SRI-50, the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group measure, and the Physician's Global Assessment were determined initially and at followup. SRI was determined at the followup visit according to its original definition using the SLEDAI-2K score and by substituting SLEDAI-2K with SRI-50., Results: A total of 117 patients with SLEDAI-2K ≥ 4 at baseline were studied. Patients had 1 followup visit over a 3-month period. Twenty-nine percent of patients met the original definition of SRI and 35% of patients met the definition of SRI when SLEDAI-2K was substituted with SRI-50. The use of SRI-50 allowed determination of significant improvement in 7 additional patients. This improvement could not be discerned with the use of SLEDAI-2K as a component of SRI. At followup visits that showed improvement, SRI-50 scores decreased to a greater extent than SLEDAI-2K scores (p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: SRI-50 enhances the ability of SRI to identify patients with clinically important improvement in disease activity. SRI-50 was superior to SLEDAI-2K in detecting partial clinical improvement, ≥ 50%, between visits. These properties of the SRI-50 enable it to be used as an independent outcome measure of improvement or as a component of SRI in clinical trials.