Low dynamic muscle strength and its associations with fatigue, functional performance, and quality of life in premenopausal patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and low disease activity: a case–control study

Table 1 Main characteristics of SLE patients versus matched-healthy controls

Variable	SLE	CONTROLS	Difference between means	P-value
Variable	(n = 25)	(n = 25)	(95% CI)^#	P-value
Age, years, median (IQR)†	29.9 (6.8)	29.2 (8.1)		0.7671
Body mass, kg	57.7 ± 6.7	58.3 ± 8.2	0.69 (-3.6, 4.9)	0.7462
Height, cm	158.1 ± 0.1	158.3 ± 0.9	-0.01 (-0.1, 0.1)	0.6573
Lean body mass, kg	38.1 ± 4.8	38.5 ± 3.8	0.5 (-2.1, 2.9)	0.6966
BMI, kg/height²	23.1 ± 2.9	23.5 ± 3.3	0.5 (-13, 2.2)	0.5998
Body fat, %	33.5 ± 9.2	33.2 ± 8.6	-0.3 (-5.4, 4.7)	0.8997
Sum of skinfolds, mm	79.8 ± 19.4	79.6 ± 18.4	-0.1 (-10.9, 10.6)	0.9769
Thigh skinfold, mm	23.1 ± 5.6	22.3 ± 6.4	-0.8 (-4.2, 2.6)	0.6351
Right thigh circumference, cm	55.2 ± 4.2	56.2 ± 3.6	1.1 (-1.2, 3.3)	0.3404
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	108.0 ± 10.2	106 ± 8.6	-2.3 (-7.7, 3.1)	0.3818
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg, median (IQR)†	68.0 (11.4)	69.0 (9.8)		0.7410
Heart rate, bpm	80.0 ± 10.3	81.0 ± 14.9	1.2 (-6.1, 8.5)	0.7432

* Values are expressed as the mean ± SD unless otherwise stated. † These variables are not normally distributed and therefore, are expressed as median. # Calculated only when Student’s t-test was used. SLE systemic lupus erythematosus, CI confidence interval, IQR interquartile range, BMI body mass index, mmHg millimetres of Mercury, BPM beats per minute.

ISSN: 1471-2474