Table 1.
Demographics and clinical characteristics at baseline*
| Category | Healthy controls (n = 24) |
cSLE-NL (n = 31) |
cSLE-NCD (n = 9) |
P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at enrollment, mean ± SD years† | 14.17 ± 2.24 | 14.58 ± 2.35 | 15.56 ± 1.94 | 0.297 |
| Race/ethnicity, no. (%)‡ | 0.120 | |||
| White | 11 (46) | 11 (35) | 1 (11) | |
| African American | 8 (33) | 10 (32) | 8 (89) | |
| Hispanic | 4 (17) | 7 (23) | – | |
| Asian | 1 (4) | 1 (3) | – | |
| Other | – | 2 (6) | – | |
| Maternal education level, no. (%)‡ | 0.019 | |||
| No high school | 3 (13) | 2 (6) | – | |
| High school diploma | 4 (17) | 5 (16) | 6 (67) | |
| Additional education post-high school | 17 (71) | 24 (77) | 3 (33) | |
| Annual family income, no. (%)‡ | 0.354 | |||
| <$25,000 | 3 (13) | 5 (16) | 3 (33) | |
| $25,000–50,000 | 7 (30) | 9 (29) | 5 (56) | |
| $51,000–75,000 | 6 (26) | 7 (23) | 1 (11) | |
| >$75,000 | 7 (30) | 10 (32) | – | |
| Cognitive domain performance, mean ± SD Z score† | ||||
| Working memory | 0.01 ± 0.54 | −0.11 ± 0.63§ | −0.98 ± 0.52¶ | < 0.001 |
| Psychomotor speed | 0.26 ± 0.72 | 0.22 ± 0.66§ | −1.11 ± 0.50¶ | < 0.001 |
| Attention | 0.10 ± 0.56 | 0.16 ± 0.73 | −0.20 ± 1.02 | 0.444 |
| Visuoconstructional ability | 0.09 ± 0.64 | 0.22 ± 0.71§ | −1.28 ± 0.78¶ | < 0.001 |
| cSLE features, mean ± SD (median, range)# | ||||
| cSLE duration, months | 23.99 ± 24.24 (12.2, 2.7–92.0) | 22.78 ± 19.82 (17.3, 1.5–55.2) | 0.892, 0.974 | |
| Physician assessment of disease activity | 2.42 ± 1.98 (2.0, 0.0–9.0) | 2.33 ± 2.00 (2.0, 0.0–6.0) | 0.909, 0.831 | |
| Disease activity (SLEDAI) | 3.90 ± 2.66 (4.0, 0.0–10.0) | 8.22 ± 7.03 (6.0, 0.0–20.0) | 0.106, 0.095 | |
| Disease damage (SDI) | 0.35 ± 0.75 (0.0, 0.0–3.0) | 0.56 ± 1.01 (0.0, 0.0–3.0) | 0.520, 0.539 | |
| Prednisone daily dose, mg | 15.92 ± 11.92 (15.0, 3.0–60.0) | 33.29 ± 26.54 (30.0, 0.5–80.0) | 0.138, 0.090 |
cSLE-NL = childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus without neurocognitive dysfunction (NCD); cSLE-NCD = cSLE with NCD; SLEDAI = Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index; SDI = Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index.
An analysis of variance F test was used to assess the group effect.
A chi-square test was used to assess the association between the categorical variable and the group effect.
The post hoc comparison between a cSLE group and the control group is significant.
The post hoc comparison between cSLE groups is significant, after adjusting for multiple comparisons using Tukey’s test.
A 2-sample t-test and Wilcoxon’s rank sum test were used to compare means and medians between groups. The Satterthwaite method was used in the t-test when variances were not the same between groups in a folded F test.