Lupus disease activity will be analyzed by between-group comparisons of lupus activity as measured by the SLEDAI-AUC, maximum SLEDAI, and change in SLEDAI score from baseline at each follow-up visit. nalysis of the incidence of flares will be based on incidence-density rates, with patient-years of follow-up as the denominator and with relative risk and 95 percent confidence intervals as the measure of association. For each patient, time will be calculated from baseline until the first flare, withdrawal from the study, end of follow-up, or death, whichever is first. The probability of flares throughout the study will be calculated with use of life-table analyses and the log-rank test.