Baseline characteristics of study subjects (before and after Propensity Score matching)
| Before matching | After matching | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glucocorticoid pattern 1 (n=89) | Glucocorticoid pattern 2 (n=36) | Std diff. | p value | Glucocorticoid pattern 1 (n=33) | Glucocorticoid pattern 2 (n=33) | Std diff. | p value | |
| Age at diagnosis | ||||||||
| mean ± SD | 41.55±15.78 | 34.39±12.50 | 0.48 | 0.017 | 36.03±13.68 | 34.06±12.84 | 0.14 | 0.549 |
| Female sex (%) | 73(82.0) | 30(83.3) | 0.01 | 1.000 | 26(78.8) | 27(81.8) | 0.03 | 1.000 |
| White race (%) | 73(82.0) | 30(83.3) | 0.01 | 1.000 | 26(78.8) | 27(81.8) | 0.03 | 1.000 |
| Criteria manifestations | ||||||||
| Skin manifestations(%) | 53(59.6) | 27(75.0) | 0.14 | 0.149 | 24(72.7) | 25(75.8) | 0.03 | 1.000 |
| Articular manifestations (%) | 67(75.3) | 32(88.9) | 0.15 | 0.143 | 27(81.8) | 29(87.9) | 0.08 | 0.733 |
| Serosal manifestations (%) | 19(21.3) | 8(22.2) | 0.01 | 1.000 | 8(24.2) | 6(18.2) | 0.07 | 0.764 |
| Hematological manifestations (%) | 12(13.5) | 3(8.3) | 0.07 | 0.551 | 3(9.1) | 3(9.1) | 0.00 | 1.000 |
| Neuropsychiatric manifestations (%) | 1(1.1) | 6(16.7) | 0.30 | 0.002 | 1(3.0) | 3(9.1) | 0.12 | 0.613 |
| Renal manifestations (%) | 20(22.5) | 13(36.1) | 0.14 | 0.178 | 10(30.3) | 13(39.4) | 0.09 | 0.606 |
| SLEDAI-2K | ||||||||
| mean ± SD | 9.46±4.52 | 11.45±4.83 | 0.43 | 0.029 | 10.21±5.29 | 11.39±4.92 | 0.22 | 0.351 |
| Laboratory | ||||||||
| Anti DNA-dc antibodies (%) | 61(68.5) | 27(75.0) | 0.06 | 0.523 | 23(69.7) | 25(75.8) | 0.06 | 0.783 |
| Hypocomplementemia (%) | 60(67.4) | 27(75.0) | 0.07 | 0.520 | 20(60.6) | 25(75.8) | 0.16 | 0.290 |
| Positive antiphospholipid antibodies (%) | 24(27.0) | 9(25.0) | 0.02 | 0.829 | 10(30.3) | 8(24.2) | 0.06 | 0.783 |
| Glucocorticoid therapy | ||||||||
| Cumulative prednisone dose, mg | ||||||||
| (mean ± SD) | 1731.96±1128.13 | 7674.00±2318.36 | 3.80 | <0.001 | 1849.39±1144.34 | 7725.21±2398.74 | 3.12 | <0.001 |
| Maximum prednisone dose, mg/day | ||||||||
| (mean ± SD) | 14.01±12.09 | 46.66±17.56 | 2.35 | <0.001 | 14.01±10.40 | 47.27±17.72 | 2.28 | <0.001 |
| Methylprednisolone pulses, n | ||||||||
| (mean ± SD) | 2.91±4.43 | 1.25±1.94 | 0.42 | 0.004 | 3.30±4.90 | 1.36±1.99 | 0.51 | 0.042 |
| Maximum methylprednisolone dose, mg/pulse | ||||||||
| (mean ± SD) | 551.97±843.12 | 736.53±1654.79 | 0.16 | 0.206 | 704.55±1003.81 | 803.48±1714.51 | 0.07 | 0.776 |
Std diff: standardized difference.SD: standard deviation