Clinical characteristics of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and controls*
| Patients with SLE (n = 102) | Controls (n = 101) | p Value† | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus. | |||
| *Continuous values are presented as median (interquartile range). | |||
| †p Values were calculated using Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon’s rank sum test for continuous variables. | |||
| Demographics | |||
| Age (years) | 40 (32–47) | 44 (37–50) | 0.05 |
| Women (%) | 91.2 | 89.1 | 0.65 |
| Caucasian (%) | 66.7 | 77.2 | 0.11 |
| Education >12 years (%) | 66.7 | 79.2 | 0.06 |
| Insulin (pg/ml) | 302 (167–526) | 194 (125–409) | 0.003 |
| Glucose (mg/dl) | 83 (75–92) | 85 (81–91) | 0.05 |
| Creatinine (mg/dl) | 0.7 (0.8–0.9) | 0.7 (0.8–0.9) | 0.25 |
| Current use of NSAIDs (%) | 50 (49) | 34 (34) | 0.03 |
| Lipid profile | |||
| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) | 166 (143–208) | 181 (163–210) | 0.04 |
| High-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) | 48 (36–55) | 45 (39–54) | 0.92 |
| Low-density lipoprotein (mg/dl) | 97 (81–130) | 114 (91–138) | 0.007 |
| Lipoprotein (a) (mg/dl) | 12 (5–39) | 12 (5–34) | 0.89 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) | 100 (71–153) | 87 (64–119) | 0.02 |
| Other cardiovascular risk factors | |||
| Family history (%) | 19 | 20 | 0.86 |
| Homocysteine (μmol/l) | 9.2 (7.5–11.1) | 7.6 (6.7–8.7) | <0.001 |
| Total pack-years of smoking | 0 (0–3) | 0 (0–4) | 0.87 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 28 (24.1–33.2) | 25.9 (23.1–31.0) | 0.11 |