Table 1.

Characteristics of 61 patients, by group according to occurrence of late-onset neutropenia during follow-up

	Total (n = 61)	LON (n = 11)	Non-LON (n = 50)	P value
Age at rituximab start, years, mean (SD), range	57.3 (16.4), 18–85	58.9 (18.2), 29–82	57.0 (16.2), 18–85	0.73
Female sex, %	75.4	72.7	76.0	0.82
Disease characteristics
Diagnosis				0.82
SLE, %	23.0	27.3	22.0
AAV, %	21.3	27.3	20.0
RA-seropositive, %	37.7	36.4	38.0
RA-seronegative, %	18.0	9.1	20.0
Disease duration, years, median (IQR)	7.0 (3.0–13.0)	4.0 (2.0–11.0)	7.5 (3.0–13.3)	0.43
Previous treatments
Number of DMARDs, mean (SD), range	3.6 (1.8), 0–8	4.1 (2.1), 1–8	3.5 (1.8), 0–7	0.27
Cytotoxics and biologics, %	63.9	81.8	60.0	0.30
Prednisolone, %	98.4	100	98.0	1.0
Major indication for rituximab, by manifestations				0.15
Arthritis and dermatologic, %	59.0	45.5	62.0
Renal, %	19.7	9.1	22.2
Pulmonary and ENT, %	16.4	27.3	14.0
Neurologic, %	3.3	9.1	2.0
Hematologic, %	1.6	9.1	0
Rituximab regimens				0.84
375 mg/m2 weekly for 4 weeks, %	14.8	9.1	16.0
1 g twice 2 weeks apart, %	59.0	63.6	58.0
0.5 g twice 2 weeks apart, %	26.2	27.3	26.0
Concurrent DMARDs
Any DMARDs, %	78.7	72.7	80.0	0.69
Cyclophosphamide, %	21.3	27.3	20.0
Azathioprine, %	9.8	9.1	10.0
Mycophenolate mofetil, %	8.2	9.1	8.0
Methotrexate, %	34.4	9.1	40.0
Concurrent prednisolone, %	88.5	100	86.0	0.33

The p values refer to the comparisons between LON and non-LON groups. Cytotoxics used were cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil

Abbreviations: LON Late-onset neutropenia, SLE Systemic lupus erythematosus; AAV Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis, RA Rheumatoid arthritis, DMARDs Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, ENT Ear, nose, throat