Relationship between damage clustering and mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus in early and late stages of the disease: cluster analyses in a large cohort from the Spanish Society of Rheumatology Lupus Registry

Abstract

In a large cohort of SLE patients, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal damage manifestations were the two dominant forms of damage to sort patients into clinically meaningful clusters. Both in early and late stages of the disease, there was a significant association of these clusters with an increased risk of mortality. Physicians should pay special attention to the early prevention of damage in these two systems.