Demographics and disease characteristics at index of patients with SLE according to SLE severity
| Characteristics | All patients with SLE, N=6145 | SLE severity subgroup | ||
| Mild, n=3927 | Moderate, n=1288 | Severe, n=930 | ||
| Age at SLE diagnosis, years, mean (SD) | 42.2 (14.2) | 42.0 (13.9) | 41.7 (14.9) | 43.5 (14.7) |
| Age group, n (%) | ||||
| 18–29 | 1301 (21.2) | 804 (20.5) | 318 (24.7) | 179 (19.2) |
| 30–39 | 1557 (25.3) | 1024 (26.1) | 314 (24.4) | 219 (23.5) |
| 40–49 | 1492 (24.3) | 984 (25.1) | 283 (22.0) | 225 (24.2) |
| 50–59 | 1006 (16.4) | 642 (16.3) | 197 (15.3) | 167 (18.0) |
| 60+ | 789 (12.8) | 473 (12.0) | 176 (13.7) | 140 (15.1) |
| Female, n (%) | 5593 (91.0) | 3598 (91.6) | 1150 (89.3) | 845 (90.9) |
| Race, n (%) | ||||
| White | 4123 (67.1) | 2647 (67.4) | 856 (66.5) | 620 (66.7) |
| Black | 717 (11.7) | 389 (9.9) | 178 (13.8) | 150 (16.1) |
| Asian | 627 (10.2) | 372 (9.5) | 157 (12.2) | 98 (10.5) |
| Mixed | 119 (1.9) | 81 (2.1) | 18 (1.4) | 20 (2.2) |
| Other | 152 (2.5) | 98 (2.5) | 33 (2.6) | 21 (2.3) |
| Unknown | 407 (6.6) | 340 (8.7) | 46 (3.6) | 21 (2.3) |
| BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 26.3 (5.9) | 26.0 (5.9) | 26.4 (6.1) | 27.0 (5.7) |
| Total time in cohort, patient days | 1 104 535 | 706 175 | 230 998 | 167 362 |
| Follow-up time, patient months, mean (SD) | 5.99 (0.59) | 5.99 (0.58) | 5.98 (0.62) | 6.00 (0.60) |
| Primary care prescriptions during the baseline period, n (%)* | ||||
| Oral corticosteroids | 1951 (31.7) | 449 (11.4) | 1055 (81.9) | 447 (48.1) |
| Other corticosteroids | 711 (11.6) | 399 (10.2) | 168 (13.0) | 144 (15.5) |
| Azathioprine | 478 (7.8) | 201 (5.1) | 190 (14.8) | 87 (9.4) |
| Ciclosporin | 55 (0.9) | 18 (0.5) | 11 (0.9) | 26 (2.8) |
| Methotrexate | 435 (7.1) | 199 (5.1) | 108 (8.4) | 128 (13.8) |
| Mycophenolate | 449 (7.3) | 172 (4.4) | 183 (14.2) | 94 (10.1) |
| Hydroxychloroquine/antimalarials | 3248 (52.9) | 1881 (47.9) | 836 (64.9) | 531 (57.1) |
| Charlson comorbidity score distribution, n (%) | ||||
| 0 | 3009 (49.0) | 2439 (62.1) | 432 (33.5) | 138 (14.8) |
| 1 | 1906 (31.0) | 1045 (26.6) | 485 (37.7) | 376 (40.4) |
| 2 | 679 (11.0) | 267 (6.8) | 230 (17.9) | 182 (19.6) |
| 3 | 296 (4.8) | 120 (3.1) | 84 (6.5) | 92 (9.9) |
| 4+ | 255 (4.1) | 56 (1.4) | 57 (4.4) | 142 (15.3) |
| Comorbidities, n (%) | ||||
| Hypertension | 1172 (19.1) | 514 (13.1) | 318 (24.7) | 340 (36.6) |
| Asthma | 1101 (17.9) | 608 (15.5) | 294 (22.8) | 199 (21.4) |
| Pneumonia (history) | 902 (14.7) | 396 (10.1) | 255 (19.8) | 251 (27.0) |
| Diabetes | 764 (12.4) | 390 (9.9) | 201 (15.6) | 173 (18.6) |
| Pleurisy | 357 (5.8) | 178 (4.5) | 104 (8.1) | 75 (8.1) |
| Obesity | 356 (5.8) | 191 (4.9) | 84 (6.5) | 81 (8.7) |
| Stroke (history) | 306 (5.0) | 153 (3.9) | 65 (5.0) | 88 (9.5) |
| Myocardial infarction (history) | 219 (3.6) | 95 (2.4) | 65 (5.0) | 59 (6.3) |
| ESRD or dialysis | 89 (1.4) | 19 (0.5) | 23 (1.8) | 47 (5.1) |
| Arterial/venous thrombosis | 53 (0.9) | 5 (0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 47 (5.1) |
| Nephritis | 49 (0.8) | 0 | 21 (1.6) | 28 (3.0) |
| Hypercholesterolaemia | 44 (0.7) | 21 (0.5) | 9 (0.7) | 14 (1.5) |
| Haemolytic anaemia | 21 (0.3) | 1 (0.03) | 11 (0.9) | 9 (1.0) |
*Secondary care prescribed medications are not reported.
BMI, body mass index; ESRD, end-stage renal disease; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.