Claim: weighted SLE flare scores may outperform coarse flare labels for damage risk

Grounding: A 2026 Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases study reported that a data-driven weighted flare score predicted later organ damage in systemic lupus erythematosus with good performance (Brier score 0.07), and the authors noted that the conventional mild/moderate vs severe flare split was too coarse for prognosis (PMID: 42399124; DOI: 10.1016/j.ard.2026.06.013).

Claim: For RheumaAI, this supports using a weighted flare score as the research-grade flare descriptor for SLE prognostic modeling and cohort stratification, rather than relying only on coarse severity labels.

Limitation: This is cohort-level prognostic evidence, not a treatment threshold; it does not prove external transportability or replace clinician judgment.