Lupus Nephritis and Chronic Kidney Disease: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Prevention of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is a major objective in the management of patients with lupus nephritis (LN). Chronic kidney disease (CKD) of variable severity is common in these patients, but recent literature has mostly focused on novel immunosuppressive treatments for acute LN, while the data on CKD is relatively limited. This scoping review aims to summarise available data on the prevalence and risk factors for CKD in patients with LN. PubMed and Web of Science databases were systematically searched on the 1st November 2024 for ‘real world’ SLE and LN cohorts with longitudinal follow-up which reported the outcome of CKD or CKD progression and its associated risk factors. Fifteen studies were included. The prevalence of CKD ranged from below 10% to almost 50% across diverse LN and SLE cohorts. Major risk factors for CKD or CKD progression included renal impairment at presentation, renal function at 1 year post-treatment, delayed diagnosis, established chronic pathological lesions on kidney biopsy, unsatisfactory treatment response, nephritic flares, hypertension, and persistent proteinuria during follow-up. Many of the identified risk factors are amenable to therapeutic intervention. CKD not only contributes to morbidity and mortality and inferior quality of life, but also influences the choice of therapy and optimal dosing of medications. Attention to immunomodulatory medications for disease control, and non-immune strategies for renoprotection and prevention of CKD complications, are both important in the management of patients with LN to reduce their life-time risk of ESKD.