title: Outcome of patients having dermatomyositis admitted to the intensive care unit.
abstract: Patients having systemic rheumatic diseases constitute a small percentage of admissions to the medical intensive care units (ICUs). Dermatomyositis (DM) is one of the rheumatic diseases that have secondary complications that may lead to a critical illness requiring hospitalization in the ICU. Herein, we present the features, clinical course, and outcome of critically ill patients having DM who were admitted to the ICU. The medical records of six DM patients admitted to the ICU in a large tertiary hospital in a 12-year period were reviewed. The mean age of patients at time of admission to the ICU was 38 (range 16-37). Mean disease duration from diagnosis to admission to the ICU was 1.6 years (range 1 month-8 years), while the main reason for admission to the ICU was acute respiratory failure. Two of six patients died during the hospitalization. The main causes of death were respiratory complications and sepsis. The outcome of DM patients admitted to the ICU was generally not different from the outcome of other patients hospitalized in the ICU. The main reason for hospitalization was acute respiratory failure. As there are many reasons for respiratory failure in DM, an early diagnosis and aggressive appropriate treatment may help to further reduce the mortality in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine B and Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel. sherery@017.net.il
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sherer
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shepshelovich
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shalev
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Haviv
authors.forename: Eran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Segal
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehrenfeld
authors.forename: Yair
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pauzner
authors.forename: Yehuda
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shoenfeld
authors.forename: Pnina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langevitz
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003882:Dermatomyositis / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008875:Middle Aged; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome