Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of SLE patients and healthy controls
| Healthy controls n = 94 |
SLE patients n = 78 |
SLE patients treated with glucocorticoids n = 46 |
SLE patients not treated with glucocorticoids n = 32 |
SLE patients treated with MMF or AZA n = 48 |
SLE patients not treated with MMF or AZA n = 30 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female sex, n (%) | 64 (68%) | 65 (83%) | 40 (87%) | 25 (78%) | 38 (79%) | 27 (90%) |
| Age (years) | 45 ± 18 | 45 ± 15 | 47 ± 16 | 43 ± 12 | 43 ± 14 | 50 ± 16 |
| Time since initial diagnosis (years) | – | 14 ± 9 | 14 ± 9 | 12 ± 9 | 14 ± 8 | 14 ± 10 |
| Renal involvement, n (%) | – | 56 (72%) | 38 (87%)* | 18 (56%)* | 38 (79%) | 18 (60%) |
| Medication | ||||||
| No medication, n (%) | 4 (5%) | – | 4 (13%) | – | 4 (13%) | |
| Antimalarials, n (%) | 62 (79%) | 36 (78%) | 26 (81%) | 40 (83%) | 22 (73%) | |
| Mycophenolate mofetil, n (%) | 31 (40%) | 19 (41%) | 12 (38%) | 31 (65%) | – | |
| Azathioprine, n (%) | 17 (22%) | 9 (20%) | 8 (25%) | 17 (35%) | – | |
| Glucocorticoids, n (%) | 46 (59%) | 46 (100%) | – | 28 (58%) | 18 (60%) | |
| Glucocorticoid dose (mg/day) | 3.93 ± 1.53 | 3.93 ± 1.53 | – | 3.89 ± 1.70 | 3.99 ± 1.27 | |
| Serum leukocytes (n/l) | – | 6.65 ± 2.36 | 7.09 ± 2.36 | 6.02 ± 2.25 | 6.50 ± 2.55 | 6.90 ± 2.04 |
| Serum creatinine (mg/dl) | – | 0.97 ± 0.61 | 0.94 ± 0.60 | 1.00 ± 0.64 | 1.05 ± 0.74 | 0.84 ± 0.28 |
| CKD-EPI GFR (ml/min/1.73 m2) | – | 88.6 ± 31.0 | 88.3 ± 31.2 | 89.0 ± 31.3 | 88.0 ± 35.0 | 89.6 ± 23.9 |
| MDRD GFR (ml/min/1.73 m2) | – | 88.0 ± 32.8 | 87.2 ± 31.9 | 89.2 ± 34.6 | 87.9 ± 36.7 | 88.3 ± 26.0 |
| Urine protein/urine creatinine ratio (g/mol creatinine) | – | 44.8 ± 81.6 | 55.2 ± 98.8 | 29.7 ± 44.3 | 62.7 ± 98.8† | 16.1 ± 21.5† |
A p value < 0.05 was considered significant
The data are presented as their mean and standard deviation unless otherwise indicated
AZA azathioprine, CKD-EPI GFR Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration-estimated glomerular filtration rate, MDRD GFR Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study-estimated glomerular filtration rate, MMF mycophenolate mofetil, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus
*, † Significantly differing values between groups (nonparametric H test of Kruskal and Wallis, followed by a Dunn test)