1 Department of Pediatrics, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, New York 10032
Hagge, Burke, and Stickler in their recent article "Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Complicated by Nephritis in Children"1 conclude, "The retrospective analysis showed a definite trend toward prolonged survival among the patients receiving high doses of steroids, compared to those receiving no or low doses." The evidence in their Figure 1, although not statistically significant, appears to support their thesis. The authors do not mention that the broken line low-dose group represents 23 patients seen between 1945 and 1957 and 4 patients seen between 1959 and 1963, while the solid-line plot includes only patients seen since 1959.2