Long-term renal outcomes in a cohort of 1814 Chinese patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis

In the present study, we observed the renal outcomes in a cohort of 1814 Chinese patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis (LN) and evaluated the risk factors associated with poor renal prognosis. The 5 -, 10 -, 15 - and 20-year renal survival rates were 93.1%, 87.9%, 81.0% and 68.3%, respectively. Gender, LN duration, mean arterial pressure (MAP), proteinuria, serum creatinine, haemoglobin and pathological classification at the time of biopsy were independent risk factors for end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The long-term renal outcomes of patients with class II LN were unfavorable as opposed to those with class V. Additionally, the time-average proteinuria (TA-Pro) and the time-average mean arterial pressure (TA-MAP) during the follow-up were important risk factors for ESRD, with better predictive values than the baseline proteinuria and MAP. The results underscore the need for proteinuria and blood pressure control during follow-up in patients with LN; proteinuria levels should be controlled at least to < 1.0 g/24 h, and optimally to < 0.5 g/24 h; MAP should not exceed 96.5 mmHg. More attention should be paid to class II LN and emphasis should be placed on recurrence prevention of class II LN.