Real-world electronic health record identifies antimalarial underprescribing in patients with lupus nephritis.

Real-world electronic health record identifies antimalarial underprescribing in patients with lupus nephritis. Lupus. 2019 Jun 12;:961203319856088 Authors: Xiong WW, Boone JB, Wheless L, Chung CP, Crofford LJ, Barnado A Abstract Antimalarials (AMs) reduce disease activity and improve survival in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but studies have reported low AM prescribing frequencies. Using a real-world electronic health record cohort, we examined if patient or provider characteristics impacted AM prescribing. We identified 977 SLE cases, 94% of whom were ever prescribed an AM. Older patients and patients with SLE nephritis were less likely to be on AMs. Current age (odds ratio = 0.97, p < 0.01) and nephritis (odds ratio = 0.16, p < 0.01) were both significantly associated with ever AM use after adjustment for sex and race. Of the 244 SLE nephritis cases, only 63% were currently on AMs. SLE nephritis subjects who were currently prescribed AMs were more likely to be followed by a rheumatologist than a nephrologist and less likely to have undergone dialysis or renal transplant (both p < 0.001). Non-current versus current SLE nephritis AM users had higher serum creatinine (p < 0.001), higher urine protein (p = 0.05), and lower hemoglobin levels (p < 0.01). As AMs reduce disease damage and improve survival in patients with SLE, our results demonstrate an opportunity to targe...
Source: Lupus - Category: Rheumatology Authors: Tags: Lupus Source Type: research