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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Aug 2.
Published in final edited form as: Ann Rheum Dis. 2023 Apr 21;82(7):927–936. doi: 10.1136/ard-2022-223808

Table 3.

Demographic and clinical characteristics that were statistically significant1 at enrolment and ten-year follow-up between the four SLE longitudinal autoantibody clusters

Group 1 (n=137) Group 2 (n=376) Group 3 (n=80) Group 4 (n=212) p-value FDR
Enrolment Demographics
Mean Age of Diagnosis (SD), yrs 31.5 (10.8) 36.5 (13.9) 32.5 (13.9) 34.4 (14.1) <0.001 0.014
% Ethnicity
 White 32.1 61.7 68.8 42.5 <0.001 <0.001
 Asian 30.7 20.5 13.8 31.1 <0.001 0.014
 African 27.0 9.6 6.2 14.6 <0.001 <0.001
Mean BMI (SD), kg/m 2 24.3 (4.9) 25.6 (6.1) 26.1 (5.8) 24.1 (4.8) 0.003 0.029
Clinical Characteristics at Year 10 Follow-Up
% Nephritis 2 56.2 32.1 50.9 46.9 <0.001 0.001
Mean SLEDAI-2K Score (SD)
 Total Score3 3.2 (3.2) 2.3 (2.9) 3.0 (2.1) 3.5 (3.4) 0.002 0.020
 Adjusted Mean Score4 4.2 (2.7) 2.6 (2.2) 3.5 (1.7) 3.9 (2.2) <0.001 <0.001
 Immunological Subscale 1.64 (1.60) 0.90 (1.31) 1.96 (1.33) 2.01 (1.61) <0.001 <0.001
  Low Complement 0.85 (0.99) 0.50 (0.87) 1.19 (0.99) 0.97 (1.00) <0.001 <0.001
Mean SLICC Damage Index (SD)
 Seizures 0.01 (0.10) 0.02 (0.16) 0.11 (0.31) 0.01 (0.8) <0.001 0.004
 Skin Domain 0.25 (0.53) 0.08 (0.29) 0.07 (0.32) 0.07 (0.28) <0.001 0.002
  Alopecia 0.14 (0.35) 0.04 (0.19) 0.04 (0.19) 0.04 (0.19) <0.001 0.004
Medications Ever
 % Immunosuppressives/Biologics 83.8 63.8 68.4 73.8 0.002 0.014
  % Azathioprine (Imuran) 55.2 34.6 45.6 43.1 0.003 0.025
  % Mycophenolic Acid 46.7 27.6 28.1 33.8 0.005 0.031
  % Belimumab 14.3 4.1 5.3 6.3 0.005 0.031
Medication Current
 % Immunosuppressives/Biologics 72.3 45.5 47.4 53.8 <0.001 0.001
  % Azathioprine (Imuran) 33.3 15.0 15.8 13.1 <0.001 0.001
  % Mycophenolic Acid 30.5 14.2 19.3 22.5 0.005 0.031
1.

Comparison between cluster groups using one-way ANOVA test (null hypothesis that there is no difference between the means of the groups) and a Benjamini-Hochberg correction with false discovery rate (FDR) alpha = 0.05

2.

LN was diagnosed by renal biopsy or fulfillment of the renal item on the ACR classification criteria.

3.

The total score of SLEDAI-2K is the sum of all 24 descriptor scores. The total SLEDAI-2K score falls between 0 and 105, with higher scores representing higher disease activity.

4.

A measurement of lupus disease activity over time determined by the calculation of the area under the curve of SLEDAI-2K over time by adding the area of each of the blocks of visit interval and then dividing by the length of time for the whole period.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; SD, standard deviation; SLEDAI-2K, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000; SLICC, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics; yrs, years.