Comparison between patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with extensive versus normal blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage
| Normal BBB leakage (n=49) | Extensive BBB leakage (n=16) | P value | |
| Per cent of brain volume with pathological leakage | 4.2±2 | 16.5±5.7 | 2∙10–9 |
| Female (%) | 87.8 | 87.5 | 1 |
| Age (years; mean±SD) | 48.7±13.4 | 49.5±13.6 | 0.8 |
| Race/ethnicity | 0.8 | ||
| Caucasian (%) | 89.8 | 87.5 | |
| Other (%) | 10.2 | 12.5 | |
| Years of education | 15.5±3.2 | 14.9±3 | 0.5 |
| Smokers (%): current/ever | 6.1/30.6 | 25/56.3 | 0.03/0.06 |
| Disease duration (year; mean±SD) | 16.5±10.5 | 11±9.8 | 0.052 |
| Prior NP events (%) | 79.6 | 68.8 | 0.4 |
| Prior NP events attributed to SLE (%) | 22.4 | 25 | 0.8 |
| SLEDAI-2K score (mean±SD) with/without NP variables | 2.4±2.4/2.4±2.4 | 4±5.4/4±5.4 | 0.6/0.6 |
| SLICC/ACR damage index score (mean±SD) with/without NP variables | 1±1.1/0.9±1 | 1.1±1.5/0.8±1.1 | 0.8/0.6 |
| Medications (%) | |||
| Corticosteroids | 10.2 | 6.25 | 0.6 |
| Antimalarials | 71.4 | 75 | 0.8 |
| Immunosuppressants | 42.9 | 62.5 | 0.2 |
| ASA/clopidogrel | 18.4 | 6.25 | 0.2 |
| Warfarin | 10.2 | 12.5 | 0.8 |
| Psychoactive drugs | 42.9 | 31.3 | 0.4 |
| Autoantibody positivity N (%) | |||
| Lupus anticoagulant | 26.5 | 31.25 | 0.7 |
| Anticardiolipin | 14.3 | 25 | 0.3 |
| Comorbidities (%) | |||
| Hypertension | 14.3 | 12.5 | 0.9 |
| Diabetes | 6.1 | 0 | 0.3 |
The Wilcoxon rank sum test and χ2 test were used for comparison of continuous and categorical data, respectively.
NP, neuropsychiatric; SLEDAI-2K, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000; SLICC/ACR, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology.