Dry Eye and Corneal Langerhans Cells in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Table 2

Confocal microscopy results in different subgroups of SLE patients.

Study group	LC centr. (cell/mm^2)	LC periph. (cell/mm^2)	LCM centr.	LCM periph.
Healthy individuals	20.57 ± 21.04; (0–71)	78.00 ± 39.51; (26–223)	1.00 ± 0.69; (0–3)	2.35 ± 0.54; (0–3)
All SLE patients	43.08 ± 48.67^*; (1–169)	124.78 ± 165.39; (19–914)	1.43 ± 0.79^*; (0–3)	2.89 ± 0.42^*; (0–3)
SLE patients according to SLEDAI score
0 (29%)	45.84 ± 43.1^*; (1.8–125)	195.1 ± 292.9; (38.7–914)	1.63 ± 0.91; (1–3)	2.87 ± 0.35^*; (2-3)
1–8 (60%)	41.26 ± 49.35; (2–169)	90.19 ± 64.76; (19–277)	1.41 ± 0.71^*; (0–3)	2.88 ± 0.48^*; (1–3)
>8 (11%)	46.10 ± 76.99^*; (1–135)	133.20 ± 73.44; (48–179)	1.00 ± 1.00; (0–2)	3.00 ± 0.00^*; (3-3)
SLE patients according to CRP (mg/L)
≤5 (75%)	39.96 ± 50.20; (1.8–169)	135.6 ± 188.90; (19.8–914)	1.57 ± 0.81^*; (0–3)	2.86 ± 0.48^*; (1–3)
>5 (25%)	52.43 ± 46.03^*; (1–135)	92.31 ± 50.09; (35–171)	1.00 ± 0.57; (0–2)	3.00 ± 0.00^*; (3-3)
SLE patients according to Schirmer test (mm/5 min)
<10 (61%)	42.03 ± 42.62; (1–135)	147.37 ± 204.04; (35–914)	1.58 ± 0.87; (0–3)	2.91 ± 0.24^*; (2-3)
≥10 (39%)	44.68 ± 59.01^*; (1.8–169)	89.85 ± 70.92^*; (19.8–277.3)	1.18 ± 0.60^*; (0–2)	2.81 ± 0.60^*; (1–3)

Data are expressed as mean ± SD. Comparisons between healthy individuals and SLE patients were made with Mann-Whitney tests. ^* < 0.05. Subgroups were compared to each other and to healthy individuals with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (not found, thus not marked in table).
CRP: C-reactive protein; SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus; SLEDAI: SLE disease activity index.