Introduction:

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multisystemic disease that is associated with an increase in morbidity. Several classification criteria, with a variable performance, have been published in the last few years. The Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) recently developed a new version that has been validated in children and adults. The performance of these criteria in Colombian juvenile lupus patients is unknown.

Objectives:

To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the SLICC criteria in a group of patients with juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus in Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: Retrospective evaluation of clinical and laboratory data during the first month of disease in patients with juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus and in control patients followed-up in a paediatric rheumatology clinic.

Results:

The study subjects (n = 110), with a mean age of 11.1 years (2-16 years), were divided equally into cases and controls. The gender ratio in cases was F:M 5.4:1 and in controls 1.8:1. The ACR 1997 and SLICC criteria were analysed in both groups of patients. The sensitivity and specificity of ACR criteria were 78% and 96%, respectively, and in SLICC criteria were 89% and 87%, respectively.

Conclusions:

In this group of paediatric patients, the sensitivity of SLICC criteria during the first month of diagnosis was higher than the ACR 1997 criteria. This was associated with a lower specificity. These results are similar to those of previous studies.

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