Table 2.
Characteristics of patients with SLE as grouped by SLE-related pain and controls at year 0 and year 7
| Low pain, n = 50 | Decreased pain, n = 7 | Remaining pain, n = 7 | Controls, n = 68 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 0 | Year 7 | p a | Year 0 | Year 7 | p a | Year 0 | Year 7 | p a | Year 0 | Year 7 | p a | |
| Age, yearsb | 45 (32 to 57) | 53 (38 to 64) | – | 41 (36 to 52) | 48 (43 to 59) | – | 48 (30 to 60) | 55 (38 to 67) | – | 49 (39 to 59) | 56 (47 to 66) | – |
| Sex, female/men, n | 42/8 | 42/8 | – | 6/1 | 6/1 | – | 7/0 | 7/0 | – | 58/10 | 58/10 | – |
| SLAMb | 5 (4 to 8) | 4 (2 to 7) | 0.007* | 12 (7 to 19) | 5 (3 to 6) | 0.018* | 9 (5 to 14) | 8 (6 to 11) | 0.40 | – | – | – |
| Changec in SLAMb | – | 1 (− 1 to 3) | – | – | 9 (1 to 14) | – | – | 1 (− 3 to 6) | – | – | – | – |
| Physicians’ reported disease activity. VAS/SLAM, mmb | – | 5 (0 to 12) | – | – | 5 (2 to 10) | – | – | 15 (9 to 17) | – | – | – | – |
| Patients’ reported disease activity. VAS/SLAM, mmb | 12 (8 to 22) | 12 (2 to 22) | 0.19 | 62 (49 to 70) | 6 (3 to 34) | 0.043* | 50 (44 to 81) | 50 (49 to 73) | 0.69 | – | – | – |
| Changec in patient´ VAS/SLAM, mmb | – | 5 (− 6 to 13) | – | – | 56 (4 to 64) | 0 (− 17 to 27) | – | – | – | – | ||
| Difference between patients’ and physicians’ global disease activity, VAS/SLAM, mmb | – | 6 (1 to 13) | – | – | 4 (1 to 24) | – | – | 35 (33 to 46) | – | – | – | – |
| SLEDAIb | 1 (0 to 4) | 1 (0 to 4) | 0.28 | 7 (3 to 16) | 0 (0 to 2) | 0.046* | 2 (0 to 4) | 0 (0 to 2) | 0.36 | – | – | – |
| Changec in SLEDAI | – | 0 (0 to 2) | – | – | 7 (0 to 16) | – | – | 0 (0 to 4) | – | – | – | – |
| SLICCb | 0 (0 to 1) | 2 (0 to 3) | < 0.001* | 1 (0 to 4) | 2 (1 to 4) | 0.11 | 0 (0 to 2) | 1 (0 to 3) | 0.043* | – | – | – |
| Changec in SLICCb | – | − 1 (− 2 to − 0) | – | – | 0 (− 1 to 0) | – | – | − 1 (− 1 to 0) | – | – | – | – |
| Disease duration, yearsb | 10 (5 to 17) | 17 (12 to 24) | – | 4 (1 to 11) | 11 (8 to 18) | – | 6 (3 to 10) | 13 (10 to 18) | – | – | – | – |
| Treatment with glucocorticoidsd | 32 (64) | 27 (54) | – | 5 (71) | 4 (57) | – | 5 (71) | 3 (43) | – | – | – | – |
| Current dose gluco-corticoid, po, mgb | 3.4 (0 to 5) | 2.5 (0 to 5) | 0.75 | 7.5 (0 to 17.5) | 2.5 (0 to 5) | 0.09 | 5 (0 to 12.5) | 0 (0 to 5) | 0.22 | – | – | – |
| Changed in current dose gluco-corticoid, po, mgb | – | 0 (− 1.3 to 2.5) | – | – | 5 (0 to 12.5) | – | – | 0 (− 2.5 to 10) | – | – | – | – |
| Current treatment with DMARDd | 45 (90) | 38 (76) | – | 6 (86) | 4 (57) | – | 7 (100) | 6 (86) | – | – | – | – |
p value defines differences between inclusion (year 0) and follow-up (year 7), – not applicable or not assessed at year 0
aWilcoxon matched pairs test
bMedians with IQR (interquartile range)
cChange between year 0 and year 7
dNumbers (%)
*Statistically significant value