SLE demographic cohort characteristics
| Cohort (n=12 510) | AZA (n=764) | HCQ (n=9510) | MMF (n=843) | MTX (n=552) | Combination therapy* (n=1880) | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 54.2 (15.5) | 53.1 (15.1) | 54.6 (15.5) | 52.0 (15.2) | 54.3 (14.3) | 52.3 (15.7) |
| Sex, n (%) | ||||||
| Female | 11 034 (88.2) | 652 (85.3) | 8495 (89.3) | 668 (79.2) | 498 (90.2) | 1630 (86.7) |
| Race, ethnicity, n (%) | ||||||
| White | 7910 (63.2) | 438 (57.3) | 6150 (64.7) | 467 (55.4) | 347 (62.9) | 1137 (60.5) |
| Asian | 457 (3.7) | 22 (2.9) | 333 (3.5) | 43 (5.1) | 11 (2) | 85 (4.5) |
| Black | 1860 (14.9) | 149 (19.5) | 1350 (14.2) | 151 (17.9) | 87 (15.8) | 298 (15.9) |
| Hispanic | 1729 (13.8) | 113 (14.8) | 1271 (13.4) | 138 (16.4) | 90 (16.3) | 277 (14.7) |
| Unknown | 554 (4.4) | 42 (5.5) | 406 (4.3) | 44 (5.2) | 17 (3.1) | 83 (4.4) |
| Educational level, n (%) | ||||||
| High school | 3302 (26.4) | 220 (28.8) | 2487 (26.2) | 225 (26.7) | 146 (26.5) | 491 (26.1) |
| <Bachelor’s degree | 6723 (53.7) | 416 (54.5) | 5081 (53.4) | 440 (52.2) | 310 (56.2) | 1045 (55.6) |
| ≥Bachelor’s degree | 2065 (16.5) | 100 (13.1) | 1633 (17.2) | 147 (17.4) | 83 (15) | 278 (14.8) |
| Unknown | 360 (2.9) | 26 (3.4) | 261 (2.7) | 26 (3.1) | 11 (2) | 58 (3.1) |
| Household income, n (%) | ||||||
| <$40 000 | 3181 (25.4) | 206 (27) | 2408 (25.3) | 213 (25.3) | 155 (28.1) | 468 (24.9) |
| $40 000–<60 000 | 1817 (14.5) | 132 (17.3) | 1341 (14.2) | 121 (14.3) | 82 (14.9) | 290 (17.4) |
| $60 000–<100 000 | 2931 (23.4) | 177 (23.2) | 2214 (23.3) | 193 (23) | 129 (23) | 467 (24.8) |
| ≥$100 000 | 3424 (27.4) | 175 (22.9) | 2666 (28) | 229 (27.2) | 152 (27.5) | 495 (26.3) |
| Unknown | 1157 (9.3) | 74 (9.7) | 881 (9.3) | 87 (10.3) | 34 (6.2) | 160 (8.5) |
| Medicare, n (%) | 4797 (38.4) | 310 (40.6) | 3698 (38.9) | 291 (34.5) | 235 (42.6) | 1236 (65.7) |
| Deductible ($/month, mean, SD) | – | 0.05 (0.17) | 0.11 (0.42) | 0.13 (0.48) | 0.09 (0.39) | 0.9 (0.33) |
| Follow-up length† (months; mean, SD) | 34.6 (19.8, 59.1) | 39.8 (22.8, 66.7) | 34.1 (19.1, 58.6) | 37.8 (20.8, 64.8) | 50.9 (30.9, 80.6) | 37.3 (22.7, 60.8) |
| Glucocorticoid use‡, n (%) | 8452 (67.6) | 615 (80.5) | 6138 (64.5) | 637 (75.6) | 464 (84.1) | 1475 (78.5) |
| <60 days, | 4623 (37.0) | 240 (31.4) | 3787 (39.8) | 202 (24.0) | 190 (34.4) | 534 (28.4) |
| ≥60 days, low dose | 1671 (13.4) | 136 (17.8) | 1067 (11.2) | 190 (22.5) | 76 (13.8) | 381 (20.3) |
| ≥60 days, moderate dose | 2158 (17.3) | 239 (31.3) | 1284 (13.5) | 245 (29.1) | 198 (35.9) | 560 (29.8) |
| Clinical characteristics, n (%) | ||||||
| CKD | 1569 (12.5) | 116 (14) | 1027 (10.8) | 1027 (10 .8) | 54 (9.3) | 222 (11.8) |
| Hypertension | 6932 (55.4) | 465 (60.9) | 5134 (54) | 536 (63.6) | 326 (59.1) | 1049 (55.8) |
| Tobacco use | 1577 (12.6) | 115 (15.1) | 1201 (12.6) | 93 (11) | 87 (15.8) | 231 (12.3) |
| HLD | 6350 (50.8) | 396 (51.8) | 4819 (50.7) | 442 (52.4) | 300 (54.4) | 911 (48.5) |
| APLS | 624 (5) | 29 (3.8) | 460 (4.8) | 54 (6.4) | 18 (3.3) | 103 (5.5) |
| Elixhauser comorbidities, median (Q1, Q3) | 4 (3, 7) | 5 (3, 8) | 4 (2, 7) | 5 (3, 8) | 4 (3, 7) | 4 (3, 7) |
*Combination therapy: HCQ with another medication (AZA, MMF or MTX).
†Follow-up length refers to the post-index enrolment follow-up in months.
‡Glucocorticoid use: defined here as number of individuals on any dose of prednisone during follow-up period. Low dose: ≤7.5 mg/day of prednisone; moderate dose: 7.5–≤15 mg/day of prednisone.
APLS, antiphospholipid syndrome; AZA, azathioprine; CKD, chronic kidney disease; HCQ, hydroxychloroquine; HLD, hyperlipidaemia; MMF, mycophenolate mofetil; MTX, methotrexate.