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Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

From: Systematic review and meta-analysis of the sero-epidemiological association between Epstein-Barr virus and systemic lupus erythematosus

Study ID

 

Cases

Controls

 
 

Age matching

Location

Total

Source/type

Sexa

Ageb

Total

Source/type

Sexa

Ageb

Anti-EBV (IgG/IgA)

Test used

Berkun and colleagues [19]

‘Matched by age’

Colombia

120

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

119:1

38.6 (11.9)

140

Healthy controls

130:10

39.1 (10.1)

VCA, EBNA1, EA (IgG)

IFA

Chen and colleagues [20]

‘Age matched’

Taiwan

36

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

32:4

30.7 (6.5)

36

Not specified

32:4

30.6 (6.2)

VCA (IgG/IgA)

IFA

Chen and colleagues [21]

None

Taiwan

94

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

82:12

42.1 (9.8)

370

‘Healthy volunteers’

220:150

35.7 (13.9)

VCA (IgG), EBNA1 (IgG/IgA)

ELISA

Esen and colleagues [37]

None

Turkey

198

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

180:18

38 (13)/17 to 74

65

Not specified

42:23

35 (7)/21 to 50

VCA, EBNA1, EA (IgG)

ELISA

Evans [22]

None

USA

100

‘Typical multi-system disease’ and positive LE cell test

Not specified

14 aged <20, 86 aged >20

34

Tuberculosis patients

Not specified

Not specified

Anti-EBV IgG (unspecified)

IFA

Gergely and colleagues [23]

‘Identical age and sex distribution’

Hungary

70

‘Typical multi-system disease’

Not specified

Not specified

70

Not specified

Not specified

Not specified

Anti-EBV IgG (unspecified)

IFA

Huggins and colleagues [24]

None

UK

36

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

36:0

45 (14)

25

Blood donors

25:0

47 (18)

VCA, EBNA1, EA (IgG)

IFA

James and colleagues [13]

‘Similar by age’

USA

117

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

15.8 (2.15)

153

Siblings/community controls

Not specified

15.4 (2.51)

VCA (IgG)

ELISA

James and colleagues. [25]

Matched by age ±10 years

USA

196

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

184:12

44.7 (12.4)/20 to 76

392

Selected from predigrees from lupus genetic study

368:24

45.9 (12.9)/20 to 84

VCA (IgG)

ELISA

Kitagawa and colleagues [26]

None

Japan

65

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

Not specified

66

‘Healthy donors’

Not specified

Not specified

EBNA1 (IgG)

IFA

Lau and colleagues [27]

None

Hong Kong

34

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

Not specified

22

Not specified

Not specified

Not specified

VCA, EA (IgG/IgA)

IFA

Lu and colleagues [28]

Age matched within 2 years

Taiwan

93

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

95% female

35.2 (14.2)

370

‘Healthy volunteers’

95% female

Not specified

EBNA1 (IgA), anti-EBV-DNase (IgG)

ELISA

Marchini and colleagues [29]

None

Italy

40

‘Patients attending Clinical Immunology Unit’

Not specified

Not specified

20

Not specified

Not specified

Not specified

EBNA1 (IgG)

ELISA

Newkirk and colleagues [39]

None

Canada

70

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

63:7

44.3 (2.5)

31

Not specified

19:12

46.5 (2.8)

EA (IgG)

ELISA

Ngou and colleagues [30]

None

France

33

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

Not specified

50

Blood donors

Not specified

Not specified

EBNA1 (IgG)

IFA

Parks and colleagues [18]

Age matched by 5-year subgroups

USA

230

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

90% female

Not specified

276

Community controls

90% female

Not specified

VCA (IgG/IgA)

ELISA

Stevens and colleagues [32]

None

USA

34

‘Classical clinical picture’ and positive LE cell test

All female

Not specified

33

‘Normal’ hospital controls

All female

Not specified

Nuclear reacting antibody

ELISA

Stratta and colleagues [31]

None

Italy

60

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

51:9

41/21 to 66

100

Blood donors

28:72

39 (15)

VCA, EA (IgG)

IFA

Sun and colleagues [15]

‘Mean age matched between cases and controls’

China

108

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

93:15

34.1 (12.1)

122

‘Healthy controls’

111:11

33.5 (7.6)

VCA or EBNA1 (IgG)

ELISA

Tazi and colleagues [33]

‘Age matched’

Morocco

44

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

39:5

33/19 to 55

44

Blood donors

39:5

33/19 to 55

VCA, EBNA1 (IgG)

ELISA

Tsai and colleagues [34]

‘Age matched’

Taiwan

16

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

16.9 (3.3)

20

Not specified

Not specified

12.3 (2.6)

VCA (IgG)

IFA

Us and colleagues [38]

None

Turkey

50

1997 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

Not specified

50

Blood donors

Not specified

35 (14)

VCA, EBNA1, EA (IgG)

ELISA

Westgeest and colleagues [40]

None

Netherlands

14

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

Not specified

Not specified

84

Blood donors

Not specified

Not specified

EBNA1 IgG

IFA

Yokochi and colleagues [35]

None

Japan

16

1982 ACR criteria for SLE

All female

53 (12)/27 to 72

30

‘Healthy donors’

26:4

46 (9)/30 to 69

VCA, EBNA, EA (IgG)

IFA

Zhang and colleagues. [36]

None

China

36

‘SLE’

Not specified

Not specified

45

‘Normal controls’

Not specified

Not specified

VCA (IgG/IgA)

IFA

  1. Ethnicity: no data were available on ethnicity of cases and controls except from the analysis by Parks and colleagues, in which 60% of cases and 30% of controls were African American [18]. ACR, American College of Rheumatology; EA, early antigen; EBNA, Epstein–Barr virus nuclear antigen; EBV, Epstein–Barr virus; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; IFA, immunofluorescence assay; LE, lupus erythematosis; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; VCA, viral capsid antigen. aFemale:male number and/or ratio. bMean (standard deviation) and/or range.