Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of SLE patients with and without severe infections
| Characteristic | SLE with severe infections (n = 55) |
SLE without severe infections (n = 120) |
p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (mean ± SD, years) | 39.4 ± 17.7 | 35.6 ± 11.6 | 0.530 |
| Female (n, %) | 48 (87.2) | 104 (86.6) | 0.829 |
| SLEDAI (mean ± SD) | 8.6 ± 5.1 | 5.3 ± 2.5 | < 0.001*** |
| Fever (n, %) | 43 (78.2) | 63 (52.5) | 0.001** |
| Rash (n, %) | 30 (54.5) | 82 (68.3) | 0.079 |
| Arthritis (n, %) | 31 (56.4) | 60 (50.0) | 0.378 |
| Hematological involvement (n, %) | 41 (74.5) | 71 (59.1) | 0.145 |
| Lupus nephritis (proteinuria ≥ 0.5 g/24 h) (n, %) | 34 (61.8) | 58 (48.3) | 0.098 |
| Oral ulcer (n, %) | 14 (25.5) | 36 (30.0) | 0.538 |
| Alopecia (n, %) | 8 (14.5) | 26 (21.6) | 0.270 |
| Serositis (n, %) | 9 (16.4) | 18 (15.0) | 0.817 |
| Raynaud’s phenomenon (n, %) | 6 (10.9) | 11 (9.2) | 0.719 |
| Photosensitivity (n, %) | 3 (5.5) | 10 (8.3) | 0.501 |
| Vasculitis (n, %) | 7 (12.7) | 11 (9.2) | 0.591 |
| Neuropsychiatric manifestations (n, %) | 5 (9.1) | 5 (4.2) | 0.089 |
| Previous corticosteroid (n, %) | 49 (89.1) | 95 (79.2) | 0.235 |
| Daily prednisone dose (mean ± SD mg) | 14.2 ± 11.9 | 12.6 ± 9.5 | 0.653 |
| DMARDs use in the last 6 months (n, %) | 21 (38.2) | 41 (34.2) | 0.533 |
| ANA + (n, %) | 55 (100) | 120 (100) | 1 |
| Anti-dsDNA + (n, %) | 35 (63.6) | 78 (65.0) | 0.154 |
| Anti-Sm + (n, %) | 20 (36.4) | 38 (31.6) | 0.541 |
| Anti-SSA + (n, %) | 32 (58.2) | 68 (56.6) | 0.851 |
| Anti-SSB + (n, %) | 13 (23.6) | 25 (20.8) | 0.677 |
| Anti-U1RNP (n, %) | 12 (21.8) | 29 (24.2) | 0.734 |
| Anti-Ro 52 (n, %) | 31 (56.4) | 65 (54.2) | 0.710 |
| Anti-nucleosome-A + (n, %) | 13 (23.6) | 25 (20.8) | 0.568 |
∗ ∗ p < 0.01, ∗ ∗ ∗ p < 0.001. SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SD, standard deviation; SLEDAI, SLE disease activity index; DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs