Characteristics of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus according to the presence or absence of the metabolic syndrome
| NCEP | WHO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metabolic syndrome (+) (n = 30) | Metabolic syndrome(−) (n = 72) | p Value | Metabolic syndrome (+) (n = 33) | Metabolic syndrome (−) (n = 69) | p Value | |
| NCEP, National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; SLEDAI, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index; SLICC, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Damage Index; WHO, World Health Organization; +, present; −, absent. | ||||||
| Demographics | ||||||
| Age (years) | 44 (40–50) | 39 (31–46) | 0.06 | 44 (38–48) | 40 (30–46) | 0.18 |
| Female (%) | 86.7 | 93.1 | 0.44 | 93.9 | 89.9 | 0.71 |
| Caucasian (%) | 63.3 | 68.1 | 0.65 | 63.6 | 68.1 | 0.66 |
| Education >12 years (%) | 63.3 | 68.1 | 0.65 | 60.6 | 69.6 | 0.38 |
| Cardiovascular risk factors | ||||||
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 128 (120–138) | 113 (105–121) | <0.001 | 120 (113–129) | 115 (105–126) | 0.07 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 76 (71–85) | 70 (64–79) | 0.02 | 74 (65–85) | 73 (65–81) | 0.68 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 33 (29.7–35.9) | 25.8 (22.8–30) | <0.001 | 33.9 (30.8–39) | 25.2 (22.7–28.5) | <0.001 |
| Homocysteine (μmol/l) | 11 (8.8–12.2) | 8.8 (6.6–10.6) | <0.001 | 9.8 (8.5–11.5) | 8.9 (7.3-11.1) | 0.10 |
| Cumulative smoking (pack-years) | 0.1 (0–16.8) | 0 (0–1.1) | 0.12 | 0 (0–19) | 0 (0-1) | 0.10 |
| Cholesterol (mg/dl) | 204 (148–222) | 163 (142–184) | 0.04 | 177 (132–215) | 163 (146–202) | 0.56 |
| Low-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) | 129 (84–146) | 92 (80–111) | 0.02 | 109 (78–133) | 94 (81–125) | 0.42 |
| High-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) | 36 (31–46) | 52 (40–58) | <0.001 | 36 (32–51) | 52 (39–58) | 0.003 |
| Lipoprotein (a) (mg/dl) | 25 (6.9–60.8) | 9.6 (4.5–34) | 0.02 | 17 (5–47) | 10.1 (5–34) | 0.29 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) | 158 (129–202) | 87 (68–123) | <0.001 | 143 (88–201) | 89 (69–139) | <0.001 |
| Glucose (mg/dl) | 88 (78–98) | 81 (75–88) | 0.006 | 91 (82–94) | 80 (74–86) | <0.001 |
| Insulin (pg/ml) | 485 (377–752) | 222 (134–439) | <0.001 | 529 (461–784) | 208 (128–309) | <0.001 |
| Creatinine (mg/dl) | 0.9 (0.7–1) | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) | 0.04 | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) | 0.53 |
| Current use of NSAIDs n (%) | 12 (40) | 38 (52.7) | 0.28 | 14 (42.4) | 36 (52.2) | 0.40 |
| Disease characteristics | ||||||
| Disease duration (years) | 7 (4–11) | 6 (3–12) | 0.41 | 5 (3–11) | 8 (3–11) | 0.35 |
| SLEDAI | 4 (2–6) | 4 (0–6) | 0.30 | 6 (2–6) | 4 (0–6) | 0.10 |
| SLICC | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–1) | 0.91 | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–1) | 0.88 |
| Current dose of corticosteroids (mg/day) | 5 (0–10) | 4 (0–6) | 0.24 | 5 (0–9) | 5 (0–5) | 0.36 |
| Cumulative corticosteroid dose (g) | 18.2 (4.6–38.1) | 9.8 (2.7–26.5) | 0.10 | 12.8 (2.7–29.2) | 12.5 (4.1–29.2) | 0.80 |
| Current use of corticosteroids (%) | 70 | 56.9 | 0.27 | 57.6 | 62.3 | 0.67 |
| Current use of hydroxychloroquine (%) | 63.3 | 63.9 | 1 | 66.7 | 62.3 | 0.83 |
| Other markers of inflammation | ||||||
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (mm/h) | 24 (13–39) | 16 (7–36) | 0.10 | 24 (13–37) | 16 (7–37) | 0.09 |
| C reactive protein (mg/l) | 6 (3–11) | 3 (3–5) | 0.001 | 7 (4–11) | 3 (3–4) | <0.001 |