BILAG-2004 index captures systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity better than SLEDAI-2000

Objective:To assess the reliability of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI)-2000 index in routine practice and its ability to capture disease activity as compared with the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG)-2004 index.Methods:Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus from 11 centres were assessed separately by two raters in routine practice. Disease activity was assessed using the BILAG-2004 and SLEDAI-2000 indices. The level of agreement for items was used to assess the reliability of SLEDAI-2000. The ability to detect disease activity was assessed by determining the number of patients with a high activity on BILAG-2004 (overall score A or B) but low SLEDAI-2000 score (