Fig. 4

Meta-analyses (Spearman’s rho correlations). Meta-analysis of 12/31 identified EC markers fulfilling the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Overview of overall Spearman’s correlations (rho, with 95% CI) between SLE disease activity and serum/plasma levels of each included EC marker. n = total number of SLE patients from all articles per EC marker. In the Forest Plot, significant correlations (95% CI does not include ‘0’ and p < 0.05) are indicated by black text and filled diamonds (♦) and non-significant correlations (95% CI includes ‘0’ and p > 0.05) are indicated by grey text and open diamonds (♢). Calculated p-values are based on Fisher's Z Transformation. Markers that are not produced or expressed solely/primarily by EC: Pentraxin-3, GAS6, MCP-1, P-Selectin, TWEAK and IP-1