Patients With Vasculitides Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: Implications From a Single-Center Retrospective Study

Vasculitides are a group of disorders characterized by inflammation of vessels. Vasculitides may have life-threatening complications with significant morbidity and mortality; however, information regarding the outcome and prognosis of patients with vasculitides requiring intensive care unit (ICU) is scarce.

Data of patients with vasculitides admitted to the ICU of the Sheba Medical Center between the years 2000 and 2014 were retrieved retrospectively. Continuous variables were computed as mean (standard deviation), whereas categorical variables were recorded as percentages. In order to investigate the impact of clinical variables on mortality, Student t test and χ² analyses were performed.

Twenty-five patients with vasculitides were admitted to the ICU during the study period with mean age of 52 ± 14 years and sex ratio of male/female: 12/13. The mortality rate among these patients was 48%. Leading causes for ICU admission were infection (64%), disease exacerbation (34%), and hemorrhage (16%), while respiratory or cardiovascular involvement accounted for the majority of mortality during admission. An elevated Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was significantly associated with mortality (P = .041).

Our study confirms the high mortality rate among patients with vasculitides who require ICU care as well as the roles of infection and disease flare-up as causes for admission. An elevated SOFA score was found to be predictive of mortality.