Characteristics of patients with positive/negative seroconversion and patients without seroconversion at the time of seroconversion or visits
| Positive conversion cases n=20 | Negative conversion cases n=24 | Patients without seroconversion n=28 | P value | |
| Age | 13.89±1.97 | 13.86±2.11 | 13.65±1.99 | 0.902 |
| Gender (female, %) | 19 (95.0) | 22 (91.7) | 24 (85.7) | 0.542 |
| Disease duration (months) | 24.16±14.30 | 28.79±15.99 | 21.40±10.72 | 0.228 |
| Lupus nephritis, n (%) | 10 (50.0) | 5 (20.8) | 5 (17.9) | 0.032 |
| Prior daily prednisone* | 8.68±7.88 | 12.14±4.69 | 11.67±5.01 | 0.164 |
| Autoantibody seroconversion events (n) | / | |||
| Anti-La/SSB | 2 (10.0%) | 4 (16.7%) | ||
| Anti-ribosomal P protein | 4 (20.0%) | 23 (95.8%) | ||
| Anti-dsDNA | 6 (30.0%) | 20 (83.3%) | ||
| Anti-Sm | 3 (15.0%) | 6 (25.0%) | ||
| Anti-u1-RNP | 6 (30.0%) | 9 (37.5%) | ||
| Anti-histone | 8 (40.0%) | 16 (66.7%) | ||
| Anti-nucleosome | 7 (35.0%) | 24 (100.0%) | ||
| Anti-Ro52/SSA | 6 (30.0%) | 5 (20.8%) | ||
| Anti-Ro60/SSA | 6 (30.0%) | 6 (25.0%) | ||
| Subgroup at diagnosis: anti-Sm/RNP subgroup, n (%) | 12 (60.0) | 8 (33.3) | 3 (10.7) | 0.001 |
*Prior daily prednisone: medications used during the baseline period until seroconversion/visits.
dsDNA, double-stranded DNA; RNP, ribonucleoprotein; Sm, Smith; SSA, Sjögren’s syndrome antigen A; SSB, Sjögren’s syndrome antigen B.