ACR EULAR APS Criteria

This article combines the European (EULAR) and American (ACR) Rheumatology bodies guidance on what specific features make up Antiphospholipid (Hughes’) Syndrome. 

 

Changes have been made to the Classification Criteria through the years and these guidelines refine the criteria again by introducing a scoring scheme and refining clinical criteria including cardiac valve vegetations and APS kidney disease. 

 

Important caveat: These are Classification Criteria, not Diagnostic Criteria. In other words, they define in a clinical trial for example, who should be recruited to fulfil as far as possible, someone who has definite APS/Hughes’ Syndrome. 

 

In the real world, many more people actually have APS/Hughes’ Syndrome because clinical features, tests and judgement vary from person to person and from the strict Classification Criteria. If we applied strict criteria such as these Classification Criteria to every patient, we would miss many patients who have the condition but don’t strictly fit all the criteria.