Table 1. Characteristics of patients and healthy controls.
| Controls | RA | SLE | SS | |
| Individuals (men/women) | 25 (3/22) | 35 (5/30) | 15 (3/12) | 25 (1/24) |
| Mean age | 37.5 (25–58) | 49.7 (30–77) | 38 (16–70) | 56.5 (40–80) |
| Disease duration (years) | – | 6.8 (1–25) | 6.6 (3–16) | 11.6 (2–42) |
| Disease activity * | – | 4.7 (1.8–7.4) | 0.5 (0–5) | 64.6 (25–96.6) |
| No treatment | – | 5 (14%) | 3 (20%) | 15 (60%) |
| NSAID ** | – | 8 (23%) | 0 | 0 |
| Corticosteroids | – | 12 (40%) | 6 (20%) | 3 (12%) |
| SMARD | – | 7 (20%) | 6 (40%) | 4 (16%) |
| DCART | – | 13 (37%) | 6 (40%) | 3 (12%) |
| ANA>320 | – | 5 (14%) | 14 (93%) | 15 (60%) |
| ENA | – | 0 | 7 (47%) | 12 (48%) |
| Anti-dsDNA | – | 0 | 3 (20%) | 0 |
| RF | – | 21 (60%) | 1 (7%) | 6 (24%) |
| Anti-CCP | – | 15 (43%) | 0 | 0 |
| Joint erosions | – | 22 (63%) | 0 | 0 |
*
DAS (Disease Activity Score) 28 for RA, SLEDAI (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index) for SLE and mean AVS (AVS: Analogic Visual Scale) of subjective sicca syndrome, asthenia and pain for SS.
**
Abbreviations: NSAID: Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs; SMARD: Symptom Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs; DCART: Disease Controlling Anti-Rheumatic Therapy; ANA: antinuclear antibody (indirect immunofluorescence on Hep2 cells), ENA: extractable nuclear antigens; dsDNA: double-stranded DNA, RF: Rheumatoid Factor, CCP: cyclic citrullinated peptide.