Changing trends in mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus? An analysis of SLE inpatient mortality at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust from 2007 to 2016

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the causes of mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust over a 10 year period. This was a retrospective study of patients who had died in UHCW NHS Trust between 2007 and 2016, where SLE or lupus was mentioned on the death certificate. Ethics approval was obtained from the Research and Development. We identified 22 patients out of 1979 admissions with SLE who had died during the period between 2007 and 2016, 7 of these patients were under 50 years of age. The leading cause of death was infection with pneumococcus being associated with two deaths. Active disease was associated with younger age at death. Median age at death was 58.5 years, with median duration of disease of 14.5 years. Constitutional and mucocutaneous features were the most common items scoring on disease activity, seen in 68.2% and 45.45%, respectively. We identified three patients with biopsy proven lupus nephritis and one patient with CNS lupus. Surprisingly, none of the patients died because of vascular problems. The study suggests a changing trend in SLE mortality with none of the deaths in this cohort being due to cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. Infection continues to be the biggest reason for mortality in this cohort and greater emphasis is needed on vaccination for preventable infections like pneumococcus.