Table 2.

Participants’ characteristics and differences among these variables between the two groups at baseline (N = 125)

Variable	Total	Control group (n = 61)	Intervention group (n = 64)	t	P value
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
Age, years	37.1 (14.1)	38.4 (15.8)	35.9 (12.3)	1.015	0.312
SLEDAI-2K	10.3 (4.4)	9.7 (3.8)	10.9 (4.9)	−1.584	0.116
Variable	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)	χ 2	P value
Gender
Male	14 (11.2)	7 (11.5)	7 (10.9)	0.009	0.924
Female	111 (88.8)	54 (88.5)	57 (89.1)
Education level
High school or less	60 (48.0)	30 (49.2)	30 (46.9)	0.066	0.797
Above high school	65 (52.0)	31 (50.8)	34 (53.1)
Marital status
Married	92 (73.6)	47 (77.0)	45 (70.3)	0.729	0.393
Single	33 (26.4)	14 (23.0)	19 (29.7)
Work status
Employed	27 (21.6)	12 (19.7)	15 (23.4)	0.261	0.609
Unemployed	98 (78.4)	49 (80.3)	49 (76.6)
Medical insurance
Yes	82 (65.6)	39 (63.9)	43 (67.2)	0.146	0.702
No	43 (34.4)	22 (36.1)	21 (32.8)
Diagnosis duration
≤3 years	63 (50.4)	30 (49.2)	33 (51.6)	0.071	0.790
>3 years	62 (49.6)	31 (50.8)	31 (48.4)
Hospitalizations (past 1 year)
Yes	81 (64.8)	40 (65.6)	41 (64.1)	0.031	0.860
No	44 (35.2)	21 (34.4)	23 (35.9)
Comorbidity
Yes	109 (87.2)	51 (83.6)	58 (90.6)	1.378	0.240
No	16 (12.8)	10 (16.4)	6 (9.4)
Type of SLE medicine
GC	21 (16.8)	11 (18.0)	10 (15.6)	0.844	0.839
GC plus HCQ	65 (52.0)	32 (52.5)	33 (51.6)
GC plus ISD	20 (16.0)	8 (13.1)	12 (18.8)
GC plus HCQ plus ISD	19 (15.2)	10 (16.4)	9 (14.1)

Abbreviations: GC glucocorticoids, HCQ hydroxychloroquine, ISD immunosuppressive drug, SD standard deviation, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus, SLEDAI-2K Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000