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. 2017 Oct 3;7:12566. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-12966-4

Table 2.

The clinical and imaging characteristics for the subgroup comparisons in SLE patients.

SLEDAI BILAG nBILAG
severe non-severe p value severe non-severe p value severe non-severe p value
n = 72 n = 58 n = 99 n = 31 n = 33 n = 97
Characteristics
Age (ave. ± SD) 36.8 ± 11.9 35.3 ± 12.2 0.476 35.6 ± 11.6 37.7 ± 13.3 0.416 32.4 ± 9.1 37.5 ± 12.7 0.035
Smoking, % 7 (10) 8 (14) 0.474 13 (13) 2 (6) 0.313 4 (12) 11(11) 0.904
Obesity, % 4 (6) 7 (12) 0.187 6 (6) 5 (16) 0.080 2 (6) 9 (9) 0.570
Duration (month ± SD) 76.0 ± 92.1 52.0 ± 83.0 0.120 59.8 ± 89.4 72.3 ± 82.4 0.490 67.5 ± 78.9 61.1 ± 90.7 0.718
Imaging
Atrophy, % 24 (33) 17 (29) 0.752 34 (34) 7 (23) 0.175 14 (42) 27 (28) 0.079
WML, % 28 (39) 18 (31) 0.356 37 (37) 9 (29) 0.401 11 (33) 35 (36) 0.777
High CS-EPVS (>20), % 55 (76) 20 (34) <0.001 65 (66) 10 (32) <0.001 21 (64) 54 (56) 0.428
High BG-EPVS (>20), % 14 (19) 9 (16) 0.563 19 (19) 4 (13) 0.427 5 (15) 18 (19) 0.661
Medical history
Pulse steroid therapy, % 13 (18) 15 (26) 0.285 21 (21) 7 (23) 0.873 7 (21) 21 (22) 0.958
Average PSL dose (mg ± SD) 6.2 ± 13.6 5.4 ± 6.1 0.780 5.7 ± 9.4 6.1 ± 8.1 0.809 5.2 ± 7.5 5.9 ± 9.6 0.835
Medical comorbidities
Hypertension, % 23 (32) 9 (16) 0.031 28 (28) 4 (13) 0.084 4 (12) 28 (29) 0.054
Hyperlipidemia, % 8 (11) 4 (7) 0.413 9 (9) 3 (10) 0.922 3 (9) 9 (9) 0.975
Diabetes mellitus, % 6 (8) 3 (5) 0.484 8 (8) 1 (3) 0.357 2 (6) 7 (7) 0.823
Acivity index (ave. ± SD)
SLEDAI score 17.9 ± 5.6 4.7 ± 3.2 <0.001 14.3 ± 7.4 4.7 ± 5.1 <0.001 14.1 ± 9.0 11.3 ± 7.6 0.087
BILAG index score 18.0 ± 8.5 6.7 ± 5.3 <0.001 16.2 ± 8.1 2.6 ± 2.0 <0.001 18.1 ± 9.2 11.3 ± 8.2 <0.001
nBILAG index score 2.3 ± 3.8 0.7 ± 2.1 0.003 2.1 ± 3.6 0.2 ± 0.6 0.004 6.3 ± 3.4 0
Blood examinations (ave. ± SD)
WBC (103/μL) 5.0 ± 2.8 5.4 ± 2.4 0.330 5.1 ± 2.6 5.5 ± 2.7 0.497 5.0 ± 2.2 5.3 ± 2.8 0.596
PLT (103/μL) 201.7 ± 95.3 219.8 ± 76.6 0.242 204.1 ± 91.7 227.8 ± 71.2 0.190 207.0 ± 97.2 210.7 ± 84.6 0.833
ESR (mm/hr) 56.8 ± 33.3 35.7 ± 29.8 <0.001 52.3 ± 33.9 31.6 ± 26.2 0.002 40.7 ± 29.8 49.6 ± 34.4 0.186
CH50 (U/ml) 26.7 ± 16.6 40.9 ± 14.4 <0.001 32.1 ± 17.4 36.0 ± 16.1 0.271 54.2 ± 83.7 32.5 ± 17.9 0.490
Anti-dsDNA antibody (IU/ml) 152.5 ± 161.3 31.2 ± 58.7 <0.001 117.6 ± 151.2 37.0 ± 64.1 0.004 94.5 ± 138.8 99.7 ± 140.6 0.855

Abbreviations: WML = white matter lesion; CS = centrum semiovale; EPVS = enlarged perivascular spaces; BG = basal ganglia; PSL = prednisolone; SLEDAI = Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index; BILAG = British Isles Lupus Assessment Group; nBILAG = neuro British Isles Lupus Assessment Group; WBC = white blood cell; PLT = platelet; ESR = erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CH50 = 50% hemolytic unit of complement; anti-dsDNA antibodie = anti-double stranded DNA antibody.