TY - JOUR T1 - Canadian Rheumatology Association Recommendations for the Assessment and Monitoring of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 1426 LP - 1439 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.171459 VL - 45 IS - 10 AU - Stephanie O. Keeling AU - Zainab Alabdurubalnabi AU - Antonio Avina-Zubieta AU - Susan Barr AU - Louise Bergeron AU - Sasha Bernatsky AU - Josiane Bourre-Tessier AU - Ann Clarke AU - Alexandra Baril-Dionne AU - Jan Dutz AU - Stephanie Ensworth AU - Aurore Fifi-Mah AU - Paul R. Fortin AU - Dafna D. Gladman AU - Derek Haaland AU - John G. Hanly AU - Linda T. Hiraki AU - Sara Hussein AU - Kimberly Legault AU - Deborah Levy AU - Lily Lim AU - Mark Matsos AU - Emily G. McDonald AU - Jorge Medina-Rosas AU - Jordi Pardo Pardi AU - Christine Peschken AU - Christian Pineau AU - Janet Pope AU - Tamara Rader AU - Jen Reynolds AU - Earl Silverman AU - Konstantinos Tselios AU - Manon Suitner AU - Murray Urowitz AU - Zahi Touma AU - Evelyne Vinet AU - Nancy Santesso Y1 - 2018/10/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/45/10/1426.abstract N2 - Objective. To develop recommendations for the assessment of people with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Canada.Methods. Recommendations were developed using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. The Canadian SLE Working Group (panel of Canadian rheumatologists and a patient representative from Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance) was created. Questions for recommendation development were identified based on the results of a previous survey of SLE practice patterns of members of the Canadian Rheumatology Association. Systematic literature reviews of randomized trials and observational studies were conducted. Evidence to Decision tables were prepared and presented to the panel at 2 face-to-face meetings and online.Results. There are 15 recommendations for assessing and monitoring SLE, with varying applicability to adult and pediatric patients. Three recommendations focus on diagnosis, disease activity, and damage assessment, suggesting the use of a validated disease activity score per visit and annual damage score. Strong recommendations were made for cardiovascular risk assessment and measuring anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies in the peripartum period and conditional recommendations for osteoporosis and osteonecrosis. Two conditional recommendations were made for peripartum assessments, 1 for cervical cancer screening and 2 for hepatitis B and C screening. A strong recommendation was made for annual influenza vaccination.Conclusion. These are considered the first guidelines using the GRADE method for the monitoring of SLE. Existing evidence is largely of low to moderate quality, resulting in more conditional than strong recommendations. Additional rigorous studies and special attention to pediatric SLE populations and patient preferences are needed. ER -