ArticleLupus science & medicine2019
Varicella zoster virus infections increase the risk of disease flares in patients with SLE: a matched cohort study.
Article in Lupus science & medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vaccination in systemic lupus erythematosus.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Review
- From awareness to action: Overcoming knowledge gaps and enhancing herpes zoster vaccination counseling among Chinese rheumatologists - Results from a nationwide survey.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Understanding Sex Differences in Autoimmune Diseases: Immunologic Mechanisms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Tuberculosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Intercurrent infection as a risk factor for disease flares in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.Lupus science & medicine · 2024Article
- Exploring the causal role of the immune response to varicella-zoster virus on multiple traits: a phenome-wide Mendelian randomization study.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis increases the risk of new-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: a nationwide population-based cohort study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2023Article
- Epidemiological Characteristics of Varicella under Different Immunisation Strategies in Suzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu Province.Vaccines · 2022Article
- Low-dose belimumab for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus at low disease activity: protocol for a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Lupus science & medicine · 2022Article
- Metagenomic analysis of a throat swab sample collected in China on a patient infected with Varicella Zoster Virus.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- COVID-19 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: lessons learned from the inflammatory disease.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Association Between a History of NontyphoidalFrontiers in immunology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore whether varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection could increase the risk of disease flares in patients with SLE.
methodsPatients who had VZV reactivations between January 2013 and April 2018 were included from the SLE database (n=1901) of Shanghai Ren Ji Hospital, South Campus. Matched patients with SLE were selected as background controls with a 3:1 ratio. Patients with SLE with symptomatic bacterial infections of the lower urinary tract (UTI) were identified as infection controls. Baseline period and index period were defined as 3 months before and after infection event, respectively. Control period was the following 3 months after the index period. Flare was defined by SELENA SLEDAI Flare Index. Kaplan-Meier analysis, Cox regression model and propensity score weighting were applied.
resultsPatients with VZV infections (n=47), UTI controls (n=28) and matched SLE background controls (n=141) were included. 16 flares (34%) in the VZV group within the index period were observed, as opposed to only 7.1% in UTI controls and 9.9% in background controls. Kaplan-Meier curve revealed that patients with a VZV infection had a much lower flare-free survival within the index period compared with the controls (p=0.0003). Furthermore, after adjusting for relevant confounders including baseline disease activity and intensity of immunosuppressive therapy, Cox regression analysis and propensity score weighting confirmed that VZV infection within 3 months was an independent risk factor for SLE flares (HR 3.70 and HR 4.16, respectively).
conclusionsIn patients with SLE, recent VZV infection within 3 months was associated with increased risk of disease flares.
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