Table 1.

Baseline clinical characteristics of the 157 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus^*

Age at diagnosis, mean ± SD years	31.4 ± 13.2
Disease duration, median (IQR) years from    diagnosis to study entry	8.8 (2.4–14.9)
Malar rash	47
Discoid rash	16
Photosensitivity	50
Oral ulcer	52
Arthritis	86
Serositis	42
Renal disease	41
Neurologic disease (seizure or psychosis)	12
Hematologic manifestations	59
Hemolytic anemia	44
Leukopenia	57
Thrombocytopenia	17
Immunologic test result ever positive	80
Antinuclear antibodies	99
Anti–double-stranded DNA antibody	66
Anti-Sm	16
Antiphospholipid antibody†	50
Anti-SSA/Ro or anti-SSB/La	17
Anti–U1 RNP	14
Rheumatoid factor	5
Raynaud’s phenomenon	57
Complete blood cell count at entry
White blood cells × 1,000/µl, mean ± SD	5.9 ± 2.8
Hemoglobin, mean ± SD gm/dl	12.4 ± 1.5
Platelets × 1,000/µl, mean ± SD	252.3 ± 88.4
Thrombocytopenia	2
SLAM score, median (IQR)	5 (3–8)
SELENA–SLEDAI score, median (IQR)	2 (2–4)
Reduced serum C3 level	52
Reduced serum C4 level	56
Elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate	55

^*Except where indicated otherwise, values are the percent of patients. IQR = interquartile range; SLAM = Systemic Lupus Activity Measure; SELENA–SLEDAI = Safety of Estrogens in Lupus Erythematosus: National Assessment version of the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index.

^†Includes abnormal levels of anticardiolipin antibodies (67 patients), positive test result for lupus anticoagulant (25 patients), or a false-positive test result for syphilis (13 patients).