Clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of male lupus nephritis in China

Objective: The objective of this article is to assess clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of patients with male lupus nephritis in a cohort of Chinese patients. Methods: Clinical, pathological and outcome data of lupus nephritis patients with different gender were retrospectively analyzed and compared. Results: Among 315 patients with renal biopsy-proven lupus nephritis, 45 were male and 270 were female. The average ages of disease onset of the male and female patients were comparable. The interval between presentation of lupus nephritis and diagnosis was significantly longer in the male group than in female group (p = 0.003). Clinical presentation was similar except that males had a significantly lower proportion of alopecia (p = 0.005). In laboratory data, male lupus nephritis patients had higher hemoglobin (p = 0.023) and higher serum creatinine (p < 0.001) than female patients. As for pathological classification and index, no significant difference was found between the two groups. The male patients presented with significantly lower ratios of complete remission and partial remission, and higher ratios of treatment failure and relapse than the female group. Regarding long-term survival and renal outcome, male patients had significantly worse prognosis than females (p = 0.005). Conclusions: The male lupus nephritis presented with later diagnosis, worse renal function, lower remission rate and higher relapse rate compared with female patients. The male patients had significantly higher mortality and poorer renal outcome.