Abstract
Introduction
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have high infection rates. Streptococcus pneumoniae, herpes zoster (HZV), and influenza are common and potentially preventable causes of morbidity and mortality. Vaccinations have been shown to reduce the rates of these infections. In this study, we aim to determine incidence, mortality, and national costs of hospital admissions for Streptococcus pneumoniae, HZV, and influenza infections in patients with RA.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective analysis of the adult RA hospitalizations in 2016 from the National Inpatient Sample database. We limited the RA cases to hospitalizations with a principal discharge diagnosis of S. pneumoniae, HZV, and influenza infections. The total number of discharges, age, length of stay, mortality, and hospital charges were recorded.
Results
In 2016, 552,230 adult hospitalizations had either a primary or secondary diagnosis of RA. Among this group, there were 1120 hospitalizations for influenza, 590 hospitalizations for herpes zoster, and 785 hospitalizations for S. pneumoniae. These infections constituted 0.5% of RA hospitalizations and were a more common cause of hospitalizations when compared to non-RA hospitalizations. Aggregate annual national hospital charges reached $124 million and an aggregate annual LOS of 13,750 days.
Conclusion
Infections, such as influenza, HZV, and S. pneumoniae, remain a common cause of inpatient morbidity and mortality among RA patients. Additionally, the economic burden of these infections is significant. Universal vaccination programs in RA patients, as well as other interventions aiming to improve quality of care of this susceptible population, should be further studied to reduce hospitalizations, cost, morbidity, and mortality.
Key Points • Streptococcus pneumoniae, herpes zoster, and influenza infections remain an important preventable cause of hospitalizations among RA patients and carry significant economic burden. |
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The NIS database is publicly available as a part of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).
References
Doran MF, Crowson CS, Pond GR, O ' Fallon WM, Gabriel SE (2002 Sep) Frequency of infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with controls: a population-based study. Arthritis Rheum 46(9):2287–2293. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.10524
Greenberg SB (2002 Oct) Infections in the immunocompromised rheumatologic patient. Crit Care Clin 18(4):931–956. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-0704(02)00022-2
Listing J, Gerhold K, Zink A (2013 Jan) The risk of infections associated with rheumatoid arthritis, with its comorbidity and treatment. Rheumatology (Oxford) 52(1):53–61. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kes305
Klugman KP, Madhi SA, Ginsburg AS, Rodgers GL (2018 Dec) The role of bacterial vaccines in the prevention of influenza mortality. Lancet Glob Health 6(12):e1268–e1269. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30445-5
Overview of the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/nisoverview.jsp.
Smitten AL, Choi HK, Hochberg MC, Suissa S, Simon TA, Testa MA, Chan KA (2008 Mar) The risk of hospitalized infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 35(3):387–393
Subesinghe S, Rutherford AI, Byng-Maddick R, Leanne Hyrich K, Benjamin GJ (2018) Recurrent serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis-results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register. Rheumatology (Oxford) 57(4):651–655. https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kex469
Segal BH, Sneller MC (1997) Infectious complications of immunosuppressive therapy in patients with rheumatic diseases. Rheum Dis Clin N Am 23(2):219–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0889-857x(05)70327-6
Dixon WG, Suissa S, Hudson M (2011) The association between systemic glucocorticoid therapy and the risk of infection in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: systematic review and meta-analyses. Arthritis Res Ther 13(4):R139. https://doi.org/10.1186/ar3453
Downey C (2016) Serious infection during etanercept, infliximab and adalimumab therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: a literature review. Int J Rheum Dis 19(6):536–550. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.12659
Boerbooms AM, Kerstens PJ, van Loenhout JW, Mulder J, van de Putte LB (1995) Infections during low-dose methotrexate treatment in rheumatoid arthritis. Semin Arthritis Rheum 24(6):411–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0049-0172(95)80009-3
Winthrop KL, Yamanaka H, Valdez H, Mortensen E, Chew R, Krishnaswami S, Kawabata T, Riese R (2014) Herpes zoster and tofacitinib therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 66(10):2675–2684
Curtis JR, Xie F, Yang S, Bernatsky S, Chen L, Yun H, Winthrop K (2019) Risk for herpes zoster in tofacitinib-treated rheumatoid arthritis patients with and without concomitant methotrexate and glucocorticoids. Arthritis Care Res 71(9):1249–1254. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23769
Zhang Z, Deng W, Wu Q, Sun L (2019) Tuberculosis, hepatitis B and herpes zoster in tofacitinib-treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Immunotherapy. 11(4):321–333. https://doi.org/10.2217/imt-2018-0113
Jinno S, Lu N, Jafarzadeh SR, Dubreuil M (2018) Trends in hospitalizations for serious infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the US between 1993 and 2013. Arthritis Care Res 70(4):652–658. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23328
Walkey AJ, Lagu T, Lindenauer PK (2015) Trends in sepsis and infection sources in the United States. A population-based study. Ann Am Thorac Soc 12(2):216–220. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201411-498BC
Jafarzadeh SR, Thomas BS, Marschall J, Fraser VJ, Gill J, Warren DK (2016) Quantifying the improvement in sepsis diagnosis, documentation, and coding: the marginal causal effect of year of hospitalization on sepsis diagnosis. Ann Epidemiol 26(1):66–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.10.008
Doran MF, Gabriel SE (2001) Infections in rheumatoid arthritis - a new phenomenon? J Rheumatol 28(9):1942–1943
Gardner GC, Weisman MH (1990) Pyarthrosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a report of 13 cases and a review of the literature from the past 40 years. Am J Med 88(5):503–511. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9343(90)90430-l
Nolla JM, Gómez-Vaquero C, Fiter J, Mateo L, Juanola X, Rodriguez-Moreno J, Valverde J, Roig-Escofet D (2000) Pyarthrosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a detailed analysis of 10 cases and literature review. Semin Arthritis Rheum 30(2):121–126. https://doi.org/10.1053/sarh.2000.9205
Raad J, Peacock JE Jr (2004) Septic arthritis in the adult caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae: a report of 4 cases and review of the literature. Semin Arthritis Rheum 34(2):559–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semarthrit.2004.04.002
Flood DA, Chan CK, Pruzanski W (1991) Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia associated with methotrexate therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 18(8):1254–1256
Keane J, Gershon S, Wise RP, Mirabile-Levens E, Kasznica J, Schwieterman WD, Siegel JN, Braun MM (2001) Tuberculosis associated with infliximab, a tumor necrosis factor alpha-neutralizing agent. N Engl J Med 345(15):1098–1104. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa011110
Elkayam O, Paran D, Caspi D, Litinsky I, Yaron M, Charboneau D, Rubins JB (2002) Immunogenicity and safety of pneumococcal vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Infect Dis 34(2):147–153. https://doi.org/10.1086/338043
Friedman MA, Winthrop K (2016) Vaccinations for rheumatoid arthritis. Curr Opin Rheumatol 28(3):330–336. https://doi.org/10.1097/BOR.0000000000000281
Blumentals WA, Arreglado A, Napalkov P, Toovey S (2012) Rheumatoid arthritis and the incidence of influenza and influenza-related complications: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 13:158. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-13-158
Perry LM, Winthrop KL, Curtis JR (2014) Vaccinations for rheumatoid arthritis. Curr Rheumatol Rep 16(8):431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-014-0431-x
Furer V, Rondaan C, Heijstek MW, Agmon-Levin N, van Assen S, Bijl M, Breedveld FC, D ' Amelio R, Dougados M, Kapetanovic MC, van Laar JM, de Thurah A, Landewé RBM, Molto A, Müller-Ladner U, Schreiber K, Smolar L, Walker J, Warnatz K, Wulffraat NM, Elkayam O (2020) 2019 update of EULAR recommendations for vaccination in adult patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Ann Rheum Dis 79(1):39–52. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-215882
Singh JA, Saag KG, Bridges SL Jr, Akl EA, Bannuru RR, Sullivan MC, Vaysbrot E, McNaughton C, Osani M, Shmerling RH, Curtis JR, Furst DE, Parks D, Kavanaugh A, O ' Dell J, King C, Leong A, Matteson EL, Schousboe JT, Drevlow B, Ginsberg S, Grober J, St.Clair EW, Tindall E, Miller AS, McAlindon T (2016) 2015 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 68(1):1–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.39480
Aberumand B, Dyck BA, Towheed T (2020) Identifying perceptions and barriers regarding vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a Canadian perspective. Int J Rheum Dis 23(11):1526–1533. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.13971
Feuchtenberger M, Kleinert S, Schwab S, Roll P, Scharbatke EC, Ostermeier E, Voll RE, Schäfer A, Tony HP (2012) Vaccination survey in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional study. Rheumatol Int 32(6):1533–1539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-011-1808-z
Hmamouchi I, Winthrop K, Launay O, Dougados M (2015) Low rate of influenza and pneumococcal vaccine coverage in rheumatoid arthritis: data from the international COMORA cohort. Vaccine. 33(12):1446–1452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.01.065
Zhang J, Xie F, Delzell E, Chen L, Winthrop KL, Lewis JD, Saag KG, Baddley JW, Curtis JR (2012) Association between vaccination for herpes zoster and risk of herpes zoster infection among older patients with selected immune-mediated diseases. JAMA. 308(1):43–49. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.7304
Leidner AJ, Murthy N, Chesson HW, Biggerstaff M, Stoecker C, Harris AM, Acosta A, Dooling K, Bridges CB (2019) Cost-effectiveness of adult vaccinations: a systematic review. Vaccine. 37(2):226–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.11.056
Chen CM, Chen HJ, Chen WS, Lin CC, Hsu CC, Hsu YH (2018) Clinical effectiveness of influenza vaccination in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Int J Rheum Dis 21(6):1246–1253. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.13322
Code availability
Statistical software STATA version 16 (StataCorp, Texas, USA) was used to perform mathematical analyses.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosures
None.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Potera, J., Kambhatla, S., Gauto-Mariotti, E. et al. Incidence, mortality, and national costs of hospital admissions for potentially preventable infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Rheumatol 40, 4845–4851 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-021-05836-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-021-05836-y