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All-cause hospitalizations in systemic lupus erythematosus from a single medical center in Israel

  • Observational Research
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Abstract

Objective

Clinical features of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been described from different geographical regions in the world. The aim of this study was to obtain local and contemporary data on all-cause hospitalizations of SLE patients in an Israeli Medical Center.

Methods

This is a retrospective observational single-center study. Revision of medical records of hospitalized lupus patients during 5-year period (January 2012–December 2016) was performed.

Results

A total of 61 lupus patients and 138 hospitalizations were identified. Female-to-male ratio was 9:1. Average age was 42.5 years. Average disease duration was 14.58 years. Mean SLICC/ACR damage index was 0.75. The majority of patients were treated with lupus medications (47, 77%). The most common lupus medications were hydroxychloroquine (40, 65.5%), prednisone (25, 40.9%), and azathioprine (9, 14.75%). The most common reasons for hospitalization were disease flare (28, 20.3%), pregnancy and labor (26, 18.9%), and infection (19, 13.8%). The average length of hospitalization for all patients was 6.65 days. No fetal morbidity was recorded, and there was one event of maternal morbidity. There were no cases of acute coronary events. There were six ICU admissions (4.35%). Two admissions (1.45%) were complicated by hospital-acquired infection. Three patients died (2.17%) during hospital stay.

Conclusions

This survey from a single Israeli medical center revealed low rates of pregnancy complications, coronary events, and nosocomial infections in hospitalized lupus patients. Further studies are required to determine whether these findings reflect local disease expression or it may remark global trend of decrease in lupus complications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Mrs. Anat Alon for her excellent assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Medicine B, Rheumatology Unit, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Be’er Ya’akov, Israel

    Ofer Levy, Andrey Markov, Yulia Drob, Ilia Maslakov, Moshe Tishler & Mirit Amit-Vazina

  2. Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ofer Levy, Moshe Tishler & Mirit Amit-Vazina

Authors
  1. Ofer Levy
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  2. Andrey Markov
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  3. Yulia Drob
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  4. Ilia Maslakov
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  5. Moshe Tishler
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  6. Mirit Amit-Vazina
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Contributions

OL: study design, data analysis, and drafting article; AM: data collection and data analysis; YD: data collection and data analysis; IM: data analysis and statistics; MT: study design, data analysis, and critical revision of article; MA-V: study design, data analysis, and drafting article.

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Correspondence to Ofer Levy.

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Levy, O., Markov, A., Drob, Y. et al. All-cause hospitalizations in systemic lupus erythematosus from a single medical center in Israel. Rheumatol Int 38, 1841–1846 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-4147-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-018-4147-5

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