REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Age-stratified risk factors and predictive models for progression to lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: a review
Provisionally accepted
- First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a highly heterogeneous autoimmune disorder, and lupus nephritis (LN) is one of its most severe organ manifestations. The age at disease onset is a critical factor influencing the clinical phenotype, disease progression, and prognosis of SLE. However, few studies have specifically focused on the age-stratified risk of developing LN. This review examines the age-related clinical and immunological features of SLE and the risk factors associated with progression to LN. In addition, it systematically evaluates how current LN risk prediction models incorporate age as a variable. Although many existing models include age, a significant gap remains-no tools have been specifically designed to assess LN risk across different age groups. Therefore, developing age-specific LN risk prediction models and tailored management strategies is crucial to improving patient outcomes. Such approaches would enable the early identification of high-risk patients and facilitate individualized interventions, ultimately leading to improved long-term renal outcomes for patients with SLE.
Keywords: systemic lupus erythematosus, Lupus Nephritis, Age stratification, Risk factors, Clinical heterogeneity, predictive models
Received: 08 Aug 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Li, Chang and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jian Wu, wujian001@suda.edu.cn
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