title: Clinical presentations and outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus patients with infection admitted to the intensive care unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this article is to investigate clinical presentations and outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with infection admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  SLE patients with infection, SLE patients with noninfectious causes, and non-SLE patients with infection were identified from the Cooper University Hospital Project IMPACT database between 2002 and 2010. We examined demographic data, APACHE II scores, physiologic data, laboratory data, length of stay in the ICU and hospital, and mortality of the three groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-five SLE patients with infection, 45 SLE patients with noninfectious causes, and 1466 non-SLE patients with infection were included in the study. SLE patients with infection had higher APACHE II scores, higher maximum temperature, higher minimum and maximum heart rate (HR), lower minimum and maximum systolic blood pressure (SBP), and longer ICU length of stay in comparison to SLE patients with noninfectious causes. There were no statistical differences in white blood cell (WBC) count. SLE patients with infection had a higher mortality compared to SLE patients with noninfectious causes. There was no difference in mortality between SLE patients with infection and non-SLE patients with infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SLE patients with infection in the ICU had a higher mortality and a higher APACHE II score compared to SLE patients with noninfectious causes in the ICU. Their physiologic signs including temperature, HR, and SBP were more reflective of infection than their WBC count.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, USA. han-kwanghoon@cooperhealth.edu
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Traisak
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Milcarek
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schorr
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eid
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feinstein
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cronin
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kolasinski
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001831:Body Temperature; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Systemic lupus erythematosus; infection