Evaluation of infectious and non-infectious complications in patients with primary immunodeficiency

Primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic immune disorders. PID patients suffer from a variety of complications. The aim of this study was to determine the infectious and non-infectious complications among PID patients.

This retrospective cohort study was performed on recorded data of 202 PID patients who were diagnosed with eight major categories: common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), X-linked agammaglobulinemia, hyper-IgM syndrome, hyper IgE syndrome, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), ataxia telangiectasia, hereditary angioedema and leukocyte adhesion deficiency. For all patients, infectious and non-infectious manifestations and laboratory data were collected in a comprehensive questionnaire.

Infectious complications were more frequent than non-infectious complications. Pneumonia and otitis media were the main infectious problems in PID patients, especially in patients with antibody deficiencies. Among the non-infectious complications, splenomegaly and hepatomegaly were the most common complications in PID patients, and were more commonly seen in CGD patients than others. Splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and autoimmunity were the most common findings in CVID patients. A significant correlation was observed between diagnostic delay and bronchiectasis in CVID patients (p = 0.042).

PID patients are at risk of multiple infectious and non-infectious problems. Timely diagnosis of PIDs not only improves their outcome and quality of life, but also helps prevent these troubling complications.