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Friday 07 October 2022 from 13:00 to 14:10
PO.8 E- poster session 8: skin manifestations, SLE and infections, fertility and pregnancy, imaging
PO.8.172 Disease activity at the time of biopsy is not associated with higher risk of serious infections in patients with lupus nephritis
  1. T Kneževic1,
  2. I Padjen2,
  3. V Ivkovic1,
  4. M Laganovic3,
  5. I Ježic4,
  6. Z Biloglav5,
  7. S Bulimbašic6,
  8. M Coric6,
  9. M Mayer2 and
  10. B Anic2
  1. 1University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Division of Nephrology, Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, Department of Internal Medicine ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia
  2. 2Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Zagreb, School of Medicine ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia
  3. 3Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Clinical Hospital Merkur, Zagreb, Croatia University of Zagreb School of Medicine ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia
  4. 4Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia
  5. 5Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia
  6. 6Department of Pathology and Cytology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, University of Zagreb, School of Medicine ~ Zagreb ~ Croatia

Abstract

Purpose Systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and lupus nephritis (LN) are associated with a higher frequency of serious infections compared to the general population which are in turn associated with adverse outcomes, morbidity and mortality. Very few studies have explored risk factors for infections in these patients and, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies examining the association with disease activity and serious infections.

Methods We have conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the prognostic significance of disease activity for serious infections in LN. Disease activity was assessed using the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K). Serious infections were defined as those that: 1. require intravenous therapy OR 2. lead to hospitalization OR 3. have resulted in death in 30 days from diagnosis. SLE was diagnosed using the American College of Rheumatology criteria.

Results A total of 51 patients with biopsy-proven LN were followed up for 4.5±2.9 years (80% women, mean age at biopsy 38±14). Of these, 22 (43%) had at least one episode of serious infection with 4 patients having 2 episodes for an incidence of 5.7 infections per year of follow-up. Most common sites of infection were pneumonia (N=6), urinary tract infections (N=5), gastrointestinal infections (N=4) and skin infections (N=2). Five patients had sepsis with one progressing to septic shock and two patients died. Disease activity was higher at the time of biopsy compared to at the time of infection/up to one month prior to infection (15.4±6.3 vs. 11.3±5.5, p=0.001). There was no difference between either disease activity at the time of biopsy (18.0±1.0 vs. 15.5±6.5, p=0.36) or at the time of infection/preceding infection (12.0 vs. 11.25, p=0.90). SLEDAI-2K damage index at the time of biopsy was not an independent predictor of serious infection (OR 0.88 [0.72, 1.08]).

Conclusions Serious infections are common in LN with nearly half of the patients having at least one episode. While high disease activity indices are important markers of immune-mediated damage, more serious disease and adverse outcomes, SLEDAI-2K at the time of biopsy was not an independent predictor of serious infections in our cohort of patients with LN.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2022-elm2022.191

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