UVA-1 cold light treatment of SLE: a double blind, placebo controlled crossover trial

Objective-Treatment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) oft en implies strong drugs with possibly serious side effects. Thus there is a need for new immunosuppressive treatments. long wave ultraviolet A (UVA-1) cold light therapy is an anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory treatment wit h a possible systemic effect and few side effects. In the current study low dose UVA-l cold light treatment was tested to determine whether it reduces disease activity in SLE. Methods-Eleven patients with SLE were treated with UVA-1 cold light treatme nt and a placebo light treatment in a double blind, placebo controlled, cro ssover study. In two consecutive 12 week periods the patients were treated in the first three weeks with UVA-1 and placebo treatment or vice versa. Th e primary variables were the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and SLE Ac tivity Measure (SLAM). Results-The mean SLAM and SLEDAI showed a significant decrease of 30.4% (p= 0.0005) and 37.9% (p=0.016) respectively after three weeks of UVA-1 and a n on-significant decline of 9.3% (p=0.43) and 12.2% (p=0.54) respectively aft er three weeks of placebo treatment. In this small trial the difference in reduction of the disease activity indices during UVA-1 compared with during placebo treatment failed to reach the conventional border of significance (p=0.07). The total score of quality of life measure RAND-36 did not improv e significantly, but the subscore for vitality did improve. Conclusion-Low dose UVA-1 cold light treatment was strongly suggestive of l owering disease activity in this double blind placebo controlled study, and no side effects occurred.