Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

No.	Studies	Induction/Maintenance	Country	Setting	Study Design	n	Treatment Group: M vs F, or % F, or Total n
1	Austin, et al³⁵	Induction	USA	NIH	RCT	42	CS: M/F: 3/12, IV CYC: M/F: 3/12, CSA: M/F: 1/11
2	Carette, et al³⁶	Induction and maintenance	USA	NIH	RCT	53	CS: M/F: 3/12, AZA: M/F: 2/18, CYC: M/F: 5/13
3	Steinberg and Steinberg³⁷	Followup	USA	NIH	RCT	111	CS: n = 30, AZA: n = 20, PO CYC: n = 18, IV CYC: n = 20, AZA + CYC: n = 23
4	Donadio, et al³⁸	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT	39	CS: n = 20, CYC + CS: n = 19
5	Pohl, et al³⁹	Induction, followup	USA	Multicenter	RCT	86	Standard group: 84.8% F, PLASMA group: 82.5% F
6	Mok, et al⁴⁰	Induction and maintenance	Hong Kong	2 hospital sites	RCT	43	IV pulse CYC: M/F: 1/21, pulse CYC followed by AZA: M/F: 1/20
7	Hu, et al⁴¹	Induction	China	Single center	RCT	46	MMF group: 19 F, CYC group: 19 F
8	Wang, et al⁴²	Induction	China	Single center	RCT	20	MMF group: n = 9, CYC group: n = 11
9	Isenberg, et al⁴³	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT	370	Induction therapy: M/F: 57/313, maintenance therapy: M/F: 32/195
10	Radhakrishnan, et al⁴⁴	Induction pooled data	USA/multinational	Multicenter, 2 RCT	Pooled analysis of 2 large RCT	84	US study: M/F: 4/20, ALMS study subgroup: M/F: 17/43
11	Wang, et al⁴⁵	Induction	China	Multicenter	RCT	110	LEF: M/F: 10/60, CYC: M/F: 3/37
12	Appel, et al⁴⁶	Induction and maintenance	Multinational	NIH trial, multicenter	RCT, open-label, parallel-group	370	Induction therapy: M/F: 57/313, maintenance therapy: M/F: 32/195
13	Austin, et al⁴⁷	Induction	USA	NIH trials, multicenter	RCT, open-label	107	M/F: 15/92
14	Balletta, et al⁴⁸	Induction	Italy	NS	RCT	10	CS: M/F: 1/4, CS + CSA: M/F: 0/5
15	Bao, et al⁴⁹	Induction	China	Single center	RCT, open-label	40	MMF + TAC + CS: M/F: 4/16, IV CYC: M/F: 2/18
16	Barron, et al⁵⁰	Induction	USA	Single center	Quasi-RCT	22	Oral HD CS: M/F: 2/13, IV pulse CS, then PO CS: M/F: 1/6
17	Boumpas, et al⁵¹	Induction	USA	NS	RCT	65	Pulse CS: M/F: 1/24, pulse CYC: M/F: 3/17, pulse CYC, then quarterly: M/F: 1/19
18	Cade, et al⁵²	Induction	USA	Teaching hospital	Quasi-RCT	54	HD CS: M/F: 3/12, AZA: M/F: 1/12, AZA + CS: M/F: 3/10, AZA + heparin: M/F: 6/7
19	Chan, et al⁵³	Induction and maintenance	Hong Kong	Multicenter	RCT	42	CS + MMF: M/F: 6/26, CS + CYC, then CS + AZA: M/F: 4/26
20	Chen, et al⁵⁴	Induction	China	Multicenter	RCT	81	CS + TAC: M/F: 5/37, CS + CYC: M/F: 7/32
21	Clark, et al⁵⁵	Induction	Canada	Outpatient	RCT	12	Conventional therapy: n = 6, conventional therapy + PLASMA: n = 6
22	Clark, et al⁵⁶	Induction	Canada and West Indies	Multicenter	RCT	39	Conventional therapy: M/F: 1/19, conventional therapy + PLASMA: M/F: 5/15
23	Contreras, et al⁵⁷	Maintenance	USA	Single center	RCT, open-label	59	IV CYC: M/F: 1/19, AZA: M/F: 2/18, MMF: M/F: 1/19
24	Zavada, et al⁵⁸	Induction and maintenance	European countries	Multicenter	RCT, open-label	40	CYC: M/F: 6/15, CSA: M/F: 5/14
25	Derksen, et al⁵⁹	Induction	the Netherlands	Multicenter	RCT	20	AZA or CYC: M/F 3/8, PLASMA: M/F: 2/7
26	Donadio, et al⁶⁰	Induction	USA	NS	RCT	16	M/F: 2/14, CS vs CS + AZA
27	Donadio, et al⁶¹	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT, open-label	26	CS: M/F: 4/22, CS + CYC: M/F: 5/19
28	Doria, et al⁶²	Induction	Italy	Single center	RCT	18	M/F: 2/16, std therapy vs std therapy + PLASMA vs std therapy + CS
29	Dyadyk, et al⁶³	Induction	Ukraine	NS	RCT	59	M/F: 9/50, PO CYC: M/F: 4/17, PO AZA: M/F: 5/33
30	El-Shafey, et al⁶⁴	Induction	Egypt	Single center	RCT, open-label	47	MMF: M/F: 1/23, IV pulse CYC: M/F: 1/22
31	Fu, et al⁶⁵	Maintenance	Taiwan	Single center	RCT	40	CYC: n = 20, CS + CSA: n = 20
32	Ginzler, et al⁶⁶	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT, open-label, noninferiority	140	MMF: M/F: 10/61, CYC: M/F: 4/65
33	Gourley, et al⁶⁷	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT	82	CS: M/F: 5/22, CYC: M/F: 6/21, CYC + CS: M/F: 3/25
34	Grootscholten, et al⁶⁸	Induction and maintenance	the Netherlands	Multicenter	RCT	87	CYC + CS: M/F: 6/44, AZA + CS: M/F: 9/28
35	Hahn, et al⁶⁹	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT	20	CS: M/F: 2/11, AZA: M/F: 2/9
36	Hong, et al⁷⁰	Induction	China	NS	RCT	25	Not available
37	Houssiau, et al⁷¹	Induction and maintenance	European	Multicenter	RCT	90	HD IV CYC followed by AZA: M/F: 3/43, LD IV CYC followed by AZA: M/F: 3/41
38	Lewis, et al⁷²	Induction	USA	Multicenter	RCT	86	CYC + CS: M/F: 7/33, CYC + CS + PLASMA: M/F: 7/39
39	Li, et al⁷³	Induction	Hong Kong	Single center	RCT	19	RTX: M/F: 9/9, RTX + IV CYC : M/F: 1/9
40	Li, et al⁷⁴	Induction	China	NS	RCT, open-label	60	MMF: M/F: 3/17 TAC: M/F: 3/17 CYC: M/F: 2/18
41	Lui, et al⁷⁵	Induction	Hong Kong	NS	RCT	34	Not available CSA + CS + AZA vs PO CYC + CS + AZA
42	Rovin, et al⁷⁶	Induction	Multinational	NIH trials, multicenter	RCT	144	Std therapy + Placebo: M/F: 5/67 std therapy + RTX: M/F: 9/63
43	Houssiau, et al¹²	Maintenance	European	Multicenter	RCT	105	AZA: M/F: 4/48 MMF: M/F: 5/48
44	Mitwalli, et al⁷⁷	Induction and maintenance	Saudi Arabia	Single center	RCT	117	HD CYC: M/F: 12/6 1LD CYC: M/F: 5/39
45	Mok, et al⁷⁸	Induction	Hong Kong, China	NS	RCT	109	M/F: 11/98 MMF vs TAC
46	Moroni, et al⁷⁹	Maintenance	Italy	Multicenter	RCT	69	CSA: M/F: 3/33 AZA: M/F: 4/29
47	Mulic-Basic, et al⁸⁰	Induction	Bosnia-Herzegovina	NS	RCT	45	MMF, N = 20 CYC, N = 25
48	Jayne and Zeher⁸¹	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT, open-label	81	Not available
49	Ong, et al⁸²	Induction	Malaysia	Multicenter	RCT, open-label	54	MMF: M/F: 3/23 IV CYC: M/F: 4/15
50	Sabry, et al⁸³	Induction	Egypt	Single center	Quasi-RCT	46	HD CYC: M/F: 4/22 LD CYC: M/F: 2/18
51	Sesso, et al⁸⁴	Induction	Brazil	Single center	RCT	29	IV CYC: M/F: 2/12 IV CS : M/F: 2/13
52	Steinberg, et al⁸⁵	Induction	USA	Single center	RCT	15	IV CYC + CS: M/F: 0/7 Placebo + CS: M/F: 0/6
53	Sundel and Lisk⁸⁶	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT	24	M/F: 5/19 MMF vs IV CYC
54	Wallace, et al⁸⁷	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT	19	Std therapy: M/F: 1/8 std therapy + PLASMA: M/F: 0/9
55	Yee, et al⁸⁸	Induction and maintenance	European	Multicenter	RCT, open-label	32	Pulse CYC: M/F: 2/11 Continuous PO CYC followed by PO AZA: M/F: 2/14
56	Li, et al⁸⁹	Induction	China	Single center	RCT	60	MMF: M/F: 3/17, TAC: M/F: 3/17, IV CYC: M/F: 2/18
57	Yap, et al⁹⁰	Induction	Hong Kong, China	Multicenter	RCT	16	CS + MMF: M/F: 2/5, CS + TAC: M/F: 4/5
58	Stoenoiu, et al⁹¹	Maintenance	Europe	Multicenter	RCT	30	M:F: 1/29
59	Chen, et al⁹²	Maintenance	China	Multicenter	RCT	70	TAC: M/F: 2/5, 5/29, AZA group: M/F: 2/5, 4/32
60	Arends, et al⁹³	Induction	the Netherlands	Multicenter	RCT	87	CYC + CS: M/F: 6/44, AZA + CS: M/F: 9/28
61	Sundel, et al⁹⁴	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT	370	Induction, adults: MMF: M/F: 25/150, AZA: M/F: 27/144, Maintenance, adults: MMF: M/F: 15/93, AZA: M/F: 14/89
62	Walsh, et al⁹⁵	Induction	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT, posthoc analysis	32	CYC: M/F: 2/10, MMF: M/F: 2/18
63	Petri, et al⁹⁶	Induction and maintenance	USA	2 hospital sites	RCT	51	SD CYC: M/F: 3/23, HD CYC: M/F: 2/19
64	Zeher, et al⁹⁷	Induction and maintenance	Multinational	Multicenter	RCT	81	SD CS: M/F: 37/42, LD CS: M/F: 29/39
65	Dooley, et al⁹⁸	Maintenance	UK	Single center	RCT	227	MMF: M/F: 99/116, AZA: M/F: 96/111

M: male; F: female; NIH: US National Institutes of Health; RCT: randomized controlled trial; NS: not specified; CS: corticosteroids; IV: intravenous; CYC: cyclophosphamide; CSA: cyclosporine; AZA: azathioprine; PO: oral; PLASMA: plasmapheresis; MMF: mycophenolate mofetil; ALMS: the Aspreva Lupus Management Study; LEF: leflunomide; TAC: tacrolimus; HD: high dose; std: standard; LD: low dose; SD: std dose (when dose is not specified, SD should be inferred).