SLEDAI Serositis Score — SCE Rheumatology MCQ

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ModerateSLE & Antiphospholipid SyndromeSLEDAI Serositis ScoreSCE Rheumatology

A 55-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus develops pleuritic chest pain. Chest radiography shows a small left-sided pleural effusion. She has no pericardial pain, and echocardiography shows no pericardial effusion. When completing her SLEDAI-2K assessment, how many points should be assigned for pleurisy?

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Correct answer: B — 2

The correct answer is B: 2 points. SLEDAI-2K assigns 2 points for pleurisy, defined as pleuritic chest pain accompanied by a pleural rub, pleural effusion or pleural thickening. This patient has pleuritic pain and a radiographically confirmed effusion, so the descriptor is fulfilled. Pericarditis is a separate 2-point descriptor rather than part of a single combined serositis item. Therefore, 4 points would apply only if both pleurisy and qualifying pericarditis were present and scored independently. Eight and 6 points correspond to higher-weight or multiple descriptors, while 0 is incorrect because the criteria for pleurisy are met.

Reference: SLEDAI-2K Data Collection Sheet, supplementary material to Salmon J et al., Lupus Science & Medicine, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1599520/