ArticleFrontiers in medicine2026
Development and internal validation of a clinical nomogram for identifying lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study aimed to develop and internally validate a clinical nomogram based on routinely available clinical and laboratory variables for identifying LN in patients with SLE. Methods: This retrospective study included 132 patients with SLE after exclusion of one patient with missing LN status from an initial cohort of 133 patients. The C3/C4 ratio was calculated as serum C3 divided by serum C4, and the albumin-creatinine index (ACI) was calculated as serum albumin divided by serum creatinine. The primary multivariable logistic regression model included age, sex, C3/C4 ratio, ACI, and log-transformed anti-dsDNA antibody. Total SLEDAI score was excluded from the primary model because its renal and serological descriptors overlap with the outcome and candidate predictors. The complete-case analysis included 131 patients. Model performance was assessed using receiver operating characteristic analysis, calibration analysis, the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, Brier score, bootstrap internal validation, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curve analysis. Results: Among the 132 eligible patients, 80 (60.6%) had LN and 52 (39.4%) did not. Compared with patients without LN, those with LN had lower C3, C4, albumin, ACI, hemoglobin, and platelet count and higher creatinine, triglyceride, anti-dsDNA antibody, and SLEDAI scores. In the primary multivariable model, a higher ACI was independently associated with lower odds of LN (adjusted OR per 0.1-unit increase = 0.429, 95% CI 0.315-0.586, Conclusion: A clinical nomogram based on routinely available variables showed good discrimination after internal validation for identifying LN among patients with SLE. ACI was the only independent predictor in the primary model. The C3/C4 ratio was not independently associated with LN and should be interpreted as an exploratory complement indicator rather than an established predictor. External validation is required before clinical implementation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.