Steroid-free remission in lupus: myth or reality; an observational study from a tertiary referral centre.

Objective: Whether maintaining steroid-free remission is feasible in Indian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: In 148 patients with SLE including 78 lupus nephritis (LN) previously put into remission, steroid therapy was gradually tapered off.

Results: Patients received glucocorticoids for median 1855 days (interquartile range (IQR) 901-2834) before discontinuing. Median duration of follow-up was 539 days (IQR 266.25-840.75). Flare occurred in 31 patients (20.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 15.17-28.19, renal flare in 12.16% (18/148, 95% CI 7.83-18.41)). Most of the flares occurred in the first year of follow-up (41.9%, 13/31). Overall 93.5% (29/31) of flares occurred in those who received ≤ 8 years of glucocorticoids, compared to 6.5% (2/31) of flares in others (p = 0.009). Median flare-free survival was 611 days (95% CI 518-704). Multivariate Cox regression identified the following predictors of flare-free survival: duration of disease (hazard ratio (HR) 0.89, 95% CI 0.84-0.94, p < 0.001), duration of glucocorticoid before discontinuing (HR 1.000086, 95% CI 1.000047-1.00012, p < 0.001) and second immunosuppressive (HR 1.89, 95% CI 1.251-2.87, p = 0.003). Additional risk factors of a renal flare-free survival among patients with LN were initial dose of glucocorticoids (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99, p = 0.005) and presence of haemolytic anaemia (HR 2.43, 95% CI 1.067-5.54, p = 0.035).

Conclusions: About 20% patients undergo exacerbation of disease activity after glucocorticoid withdrawal. Treatment for ≥ 8 years before discontinuing and an additional immunosuppressive agent improve the chance of flare-free survival.