Table 3. Characteristics of the Active Disease cohort at the first visit where the patients satisfied the active disease criteria (at least 1 A or 2 B in BILAG scores).

Baseline characteristics	Total cohort n = 924
Median age at diagnosis years [Interquartile range (IQR)], n = 923	30.58 [23.18 − 41.34]
Female n(%)	820 (89)
Ethnicity (%)
Caucasian	385 (42)
Hispanic	179 (19)
Asian	152 (16)
African	174 (19)
Other	34 (4)
Location (%)
Canada	218 (24)
United States	237 (26)
Mexico	156 (17)
Europe	213 (23)
Asia	100 (11)
Co-morbidities (%)
Diabetes, n = 607	16 (3)
Hypertension, n = 900	375 (42)
Current smokers (%), n = 922	134 (15)
Alcohol consumption units/week*, mean (standard deviation (SD)), n = 914	0.76 (2.11)
Post-secondary education (%), n = 863	502 (58)
Disease status
Disease duration years, median [IQR]	1.23 [0.29 − 3.45]
Serological markers (%)
Low C3 and C4, n = 879	399 (45)
High anti-dsDNA, n = 875	420 (48)
Anti-phospholipid antibodies present (%)**
Anti-cardiolipin antibodies, n = 430	63 (15)
Anti-beta2glycoprotein-1, n = 431	65 (15)
Lupus anticoagulant, n = 451	100 (22)
SF-36 Physical Component Score, median [IQR], n = 743	37.45 [28.94 − 47.17]
SF-36 Mental Component Score, median [IQR], n = 734	44.98 [34.51 − 53.89]
Total SLEDAI-2K median [IQR], n = 920	7 [4 − 12]
SLICC score
0	369 (40)
1	124 (13)
2	60 (6)
3	39 (4)
>= 4	17 (2)
NA	315 (34)
Classic BILAG, A or B scores (%)
Constitutional	159 (17)
Mucocutaneous	317 (34)
Neuro-psychiatric	58 (6)
Musculoskeletal	335 (36)
Cardio-respiratory	46 (5)
Vasculitis	87 (9)
Renal	480 (52)
Haematological	406 (44)
Glucocorticoids
Average oral prednisolone or equivalent dose mg*, median, n = 804	11.55 [5 − 27.7]
Pulse IV (%)	61 (7)
Anti-malarial (%)	603 (65)
Conventional DMARD therapy (%), n = 921
Azathioprine	232 (25)
Mycophenolate mofetil	131 (14)
Methotrexate	93 (10)
Cyclosporin	20 (2)
Cyclophosphamide
IV	86 (9)
Oral	11 (1)
Other	27 (3)
Biologic DMARD therapy (%), n = 921
Rituximab	12 (1)
Belimumab	4 (0.4)
Abatacept	3 (0.3)
Other	10 (1)

NB: For alcohol consumption median, lower and upper quartile are all 0.

^*For oral prednisolone or equivalent dose, if study entry-criteria met at enrolment then average prednisolone or equivalent dose for the current course is stated and if study entry-criteria met at a follow-up visit then average prednisolone or equivalent dose since the last visit is stated.

^**8 Assays performed in Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Laboratories of the late Dr Morris Reichlin (Dr JT Merrill): Lupus Anticoagulant assay performed using reagents from Rainbow Scientific, Windsor, CT. ELISA assays for anti-cardiolipin and anti-B2GPI used a cut-point as positive as >2SD above the mean of 60 healthy controls¹⁴