A cross-sectional study of systemic lupus erythematosus patients complicated with infection

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and influencing factors of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients complicated with infection having multi-system involvement and to analyze the influencing factors of early CMV and fungal infection. We conducted a cross-sectional study of hospitalized SLE patients complicated with infection. Participants had an average age of 44.80 ± 17.30, with 152 being female (89.94%). Clinical data and laboratory results were collected from medical records. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted, and sensitivity and specificity were calculated. Univariate analysis showed that systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index-2000 (SLEDAI-2k), red blood cell, platelets, hemoglobin, lymphocytes, IgG, IgM, C3, C4, albumin and globulin were significantly associated with SLE patients with infection complicated with multi-system involvement. After multivariable analysis, the following variables remained significant: Hemoglobin, CD4 lymphocyte, IgM and SM ( p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed the areas under the curve of Hb, CD4 count, and IgM for the differential diagnosis of SLE with infection complicated with multisystem involvement being 0.646, 0.627, and 0.610. Then, the sensitivities of 73.3%, 53.3%, and 73.3% were observed with the specificities of 54.1%, 69.7%, and 48.6%, respectively. Our results demonstrated that hemoglobin, CD4 lymphocyte value, IgM and anti SM antibody had significant value in monitoring multi-system involvement in SLE patients complicated with infection. Besides, intrinsic lymphatic count disturbances associated with SLE disease can cause infections by opportunistic pathogens such as fungi.