Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with SLE with and without prior severe organ involvement

Patients with SLE without prior severe organ involvement (n=24)Patients with SLE with prior severe organ involvement (n=49)P value
Demographics
 Age at time of GC discontinuation (years)44.00 (38.00, 51.75)45.00 (35.00, 54.00)0.97
 Female ratio (%)24 (100.0)46 (93.9)0.55
 BMI (kg/m2)20.08 (18.14, 22.17)19.51 (17.91, 21.11)0.66
 Ethnicity: Japanese ratio21 (87.5)48 (98.0)0.06
 Disease duration before GC discontinuation (days)2379 (1547, 3345)4367 (1881, 6683)0.06
 Duration of GC exposure before GC discontinuation (days)1962 (1180, 2701)4136 (957, 6683)0.02
 Time needed to discontinue GC from PSL equivalent 5 mg (days)934 (526, 1591)777 (350, 1365)0.33
Organ involvement
 Joints and muscles22 (91.7)38 (77.6)0.20
 Skin/mucous membranes20 (83.3)39 (81.2)1
 Haematologic abnormalities14 (58.3)32 (65.3)0.61
 Serositis7 (29.2)7 (14.3)0.20
 Renal manifestation0 (0.0)35 (71.4)<0.01
 Lupus nephritis class: Class III/IV0 (0.0)13 (37.1)
  Non-class III/IV0 (0.0)12 (34.3)
  No data0 (0.0)10 (28.6)
 Neurological manifestation0 (0.0)6 (12.2)0.17
Laboratory data
 Anti-dsDNA Ab13 (54.2)35 (71.4)0.19
 Anti-Sm Ab2 (8.3)8 (16.7)0.48
 Anti-SSA/Ro Ab11 (45.8)22 (46.8)1
 Anti-RNP Ab5 (23.8)13 (31.0)0.77
 Lupus anticoagulant3 (12.5)8 (16.7)0.74
 Anti-CL Ab3 (13.6)18 (37.5)0.052
 Anti-CL β2GPI Ab2 (9.5)3 (6.5)0.65
Prior treatment regimen
 PSL 1 mg/kg/day0 (0.0)29 (59.2)<0.01
 mPSL pulse therapy0 (0.0)16 (32.7)<0.01
 Maximum GC dose (mg/day) *20 (10, 25)60 (40, 60)<0.01
 B cell targeting/cytotoxic agent0 (0.0)4 (8.2)0.30
  • Values are expressed as number (%) or median (IQR)

  • *Prednisolone equivalent (mg/day).

  • Ab, antibody; anti-RNP Ab, antiribonucleoprotein antibody; anti-Sm Ab, anti-Smith antibody; BMI, body mass index; CL, cardiolipin; dsDNA, double stranded DNA ; GC, glucocorticoid; mPSL, methylprednisolone; PSL, prednisolone; β2GPI, β2-glycoprotein I.