POS0710 ANALYSIS OF 5-YEAR HOSPITALIZATION DATA OF PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS: DAMAGE IS A RISK FACTOR FOR FREQUENT AND LONGER STAYS
Authors: C. Cetin, M. G. Can, S. Oztaskin, Y. Yalçinkaya, A. Gül, M. Inanc, B. Artim-Esen
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: The rates of hospitalization in patients with SLE is around 10% per year. 1 Objectives: In this study, we aimed to examine the hospitalization data of patients with SLE in the last 5 years at our center and determine the factors that affect hospitalization. Methods: Hospitalization data of patients with SLE (2012 SLICC classification) admitted to our rheumatology ward between January 2015 and 2020 were analyzed. Cumulative clinical and laboratory findings were retrieved from the existing SLE database and revised. SLICC SLE damage index (SDI), and the disease activity at admission were determined (SLEDAI-2K). Results: Eighty-six % (n=138) of 161 hospitalized patients were female. The mean age of the patients was 38 ± 13 years whilst mean duration of disease was 97.3 ±96.9 months. Thirty-eight% of the patients were hospitalized more than once and the mean number of hospitalizations was 1.8±1.5 The mean hospitalization duration covering all stays for each patient was 25±27 days. Active disease followed by infection and damage-related complications ranked the first three among all causes of hospitalization. Compared to patients hospitalized for active disease or other reasons, patients hospitalized for infection had a significantly higher number of readmissions ( p&lt;0.05 ) and their total duration of hospitalization was longer (p&lt;0.01 ). Duration of disease was significantly shorter in patients hospitalized for active disease compared to patients hospitalized for infection and damage related causes (p&lt;0.05). The frequency of patients with damage and the mean SDI score was significantly lower in the group with active disease (68% and 1.9 ± 2) compared to patients hospitalized for infection (90% and 2.7±1.6) and other causes (96% and 3±1.7) (p&lt;0.05 for both). Distribution of damage according to organ/systems is presented in Graph 1. Highest frequency of damage was detected in the cardiovascular (30%), followed by neuropsychiatric (26.7%), renal (23%), pulmonary (23%) and musculoskeletal (20.5%) domains. A positive correlation was found between the mean SDI score and duration of hospitalization (r=0.551, p&lt;0.001 ) as well as the number of hospitalizations (r=0.393, p&lt;0.001 ). Regarding disease activity at the time of admission, the mean score of patients hospitalized for active disease was 11.0 ± 6.1 whilst was 3.2 ± 2.8 in patients hospitalized for infection and 2.9 ± 3.3 in patients hospitalized for other reasons ( p&lt;0.001 ). Renal active disease was the most common (44%), followed by hematological (34.8%), articular (21.7%) and mucocutaneous (21%) activity. Ten% of the patients all of whom had damage were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU). Total hospitalization duration (p=0.012), mean SDI (p=0.008), antiphospholipid syndrome (p=0.033), lupus anticoagulant (p=0.010), thrombocytopenia (p=0.015), serositis (p=0.034), pulmonary hypertension (p=0.021), history of alveolar haemorrhage (p&lt;0.001) and cardiac valve involvement (p=0.002) were associated with ICU hospitalization. Conclusion: Disease activity, infections and damage are the leading causes of hospitalization in patients with SLE. Damage increases the frequency of hospitalizations, prolongs the duration of stay, and increases the need for follow-up in the ICU. Tight control of disease activity with rational use of immunosuppressive treatment is important to reduce damage and hospitalizations. Graphic 1. Distribution of damage according to organs/systems in hospitalized patients References: [1]Gu K, Gladman DD, Su J, Urowitz MB. Hospitalizations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in an academic health science center. The Journal of rheumatology 2017;44:1173-8. Disclosure of Interests: None declared