Demographic features and damage increase according to the durations of LLDAS achieved during the follow-up
| Never in LLDAS | 1-Year LLDAS | 2-Year LLDAS | 3-Year LLDAS | 4-Year LLDAS | ≥5-Year LLDAS | p | |
| Number of patients (%) | 38 (13.3) | 33 (11.3) | 43 (14.7) | 39 (13.3) | 31 (10.6) | 109 (37.2) | |
| Age at recruitment, mean±SD years | 39.9±13 | 36.6±16.4 | 40.0±13.0 | 42.4±11.7 | 41.9±11.2 | 39.8±12.5 | n.s. |
| Female, n (%) | 31 (83.7) | 27 (81.8) | 39 (90.7) | 31 (79.5) | 25 (80.6) | 100 (91.7) | n.s. |
| SLE duration at recruitment, mean±SD years | 10.8±7.2 | 10.2±7.1 | 11.8±6.7 | 11.4±6.1 | 10.2±6.3 | 12.0±5.4 | n.s. |
| SDI at recruitment, mean±SD | 0.87±1.53 | 0.68±0.90 | 0.97±1.14 | 0.75±0.94 | 0.48±0.85 | 0.42±0.88 | n.s. |
| SDI increase, mean±SD | 1.67±1.35 | 1.20±0.90 | 0.91±0.89 | 0.90±0.87 | 0.45±0.69 | 0.27±0.49 | <0.05* |
| Increase in SDI≥1, number of patients (%) | 32 (84.2) | 26 (78.8) | 27 (62.8) | 23 (58.9) | 13 (41.9) | 30 (27.5) | <0.05† |
| Increase in SDI≥2, number of patients (%) | 17 (44.7) | 9 (27.3) | 11 (25.6) | 10 (25.6) | 2 (8.0) | 2 (1.8) | <0.05‡ |
p Values refer to the analysis of variance with 5 df.
*Never in LLDAS vs 1-year LLDAS, p=n.s.; never in LLDAS vs 2-year LLDAS, p=0.001; never in LLDAS vs 3-year LLDAS, p=0.001; never in LLDAS vs 4-year LLDAS, p<0.001; never in LLDAS vs ≥5-year LLDAS, p<0.001.
†Never in LLDAS vs 1-year LLDAS, p=n.s.; never in LLDAS vs 2-year LLDAS, p=0.02; never in LLDAS vs 3-year LLDAS, p=0.01; never in LLDAS vs 4-year LLDAS, p<0.001; never in LLDAS vs ≥5-year LLDAS, p<0.001.
‡Never in LLDAS vs 1-year LLDAS, p=n.s.; never in LLDAS vs 2-year LLDAS, p=n.s.; never in LLDAS vs 3-year LLDAS, p=n.s.; never in LLDAS vs 4-year LLDAS, p<0.001; never in LLDAS vs ≥5-year LLDAS, p<0.001.
LLDAS, lupus low disease activity state; n.s., not significant; SDI, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.