Finding Possible Solutions for the Management of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus from the Current Situation and Challenges in China

Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) has become a common chronic autoimmune disease in China. It is estimated that there are about 1 million SLE patients in China. SLE in China has the characteristics of a large patient volume, high complication rate, heavy social and economic burden, and a great adverse impact on fertility. However, since rheumatology is the youngest subspecialty of internal medicine in China, and the distribution of rheumatologists is very uneven across the country, neither the quantity nor the quality of rheumatologists could meet the needs of SLE patients in China. This leads to the inadeguate standardization of the management, and the rates of remission and long-term survival of SLE patients in China lower than in the advanced nations. On the other hand, in China, SLE patients generally lack the knowledge of the disease, and the current system of managing chronic diseasesis far from perfect. All these have led to poor compliance with treatments and a low response rate. Therefore, the solutions for these difficulties and challenges might be setting up a nation-wide network for research and management of SLE, bringing the leadership of the National Clinical Research Center for Dermatological and immunological Diseases of China into full play, facilitating the development of rheumatology in China, building up a well-organized system for the management of chronic diseases, fully utilizing the policy for specialty development of government administrations, speeding up translational research and conducting high quality clinical studies.