Table 1.

Demographics and comorbidities of 3030 patients in relation to glucocorticoid (GC) and antimalarial (AM) treatment used during the first eligible treatment episode.

Characteristic	Milder SLE			More Severe SLE
Characteristic	AM Only, n = 1271 (42%)	AM + GC, ≤ 15 mg/day, n = 165 (5%)	GC ≤ 15 mg/day Only, n = 262 (9%)	AM + GC, > 15 mg/day, n = 277 (9%)	GC > 15 mg/day Only, n = 1055 (35%)
Year of cohort entry
1997–2000	22	32	28	24	24
2001–2004	21	20	23	22	22
2005–2008	24	28	23	24	22
2009–2013	33	20	26	30	32
Age at cohort entry, yrs
≤ 44	52	58	43	65	45
45–65	39	35	41	30	39
> 65	9	7	16	5	16
Sex
Male	8	11	13	13	12
Female	92	89	87	87	88
Race-ethnicity
Asian	15	28	16	27	18
African American	18	16	23	21	19
Hispanic	22	21	21	18	24
White	38	30	36	29	36
Other	7	5	4	5	3
Charlson Index ≥ 2	18	16	36	25	33
Positive laboratory test results
ANA	93	91	89	93	89
Anti-dsDNA	89	89	82	92	85
APL^*	40	30	34	44	41
Anti-Sm	63	54	47	60	53
Anti-Ro (SSA)/Anti-La (SSB)	64	52	55	66	55
RF	70	64	61	70	62
Use of other immunosuppressants^**	9	21	36	24	24
History of renal disease	12	16	24	22	30
Test result, mean (SD)
Serum creatinine	0.8 (0.7)	0.9 (0.7)	1.2 (1.6)	0.9 (0.7)	1.3 (1.8)
Hematocrit	38.2 (4.0)	37.2 (4.3)	37.0 (5.2)	35.8 (5.2)	36.3 (5.5)
WBC	5.7 (2.2)	5.6 (2.3)	6.7 (2.9)	5.7 (2.9)	7.0 (3.9)

↵* Includes positivity to dilute Russell’s viper venom time and partial thromboplastin time.
↵** Mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporine, and belimumab. SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus; ANA: antinuclear antibody; APL: antiphospholipid antibody; RF: rheumatoid factor; WBC: white blood cell count.