Hospitalisations related to systemic sclerosis and the impact of interstitial lung disease. Analysis of patients hospitalised at the University of Michigan, USA.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the primary reason for hospitalisations in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and impact of underlying interstitial lung disease (ILD) in a tertiary scleroderma centre.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis on a subset of a scleroderma cohort from 2011-2019 was performed to assess causes for hospitalisations and mortality. A chart review was performed to extract demographics, primary reason for hospitalisation and inpatient mortality. Admissions were classified as SSc (if hospitalisation reason was related to primary organ dysfunction) and non-SSc related causes.

RESULTS

The mean age of the cohort was 53.1 years, 78% were women, and the mean disease duration was 5.2 years. Among 484 patients, 182 (37.6%) were admitted for a total of 634 admissions. In 382 SSc-related admissions, pulmonary hypertension (12.0%) and gastrointestinal dysmotility (11.0%), were major causes of urgent admissions; management of digital vasculopathy (26.1%) was the major reason for elective admissions. In 252 non-SSc related admissions, infection (respiratory:11.5%, skin and soft tissue: 6.3%) was the major reason for urgent admissions, and elective surgery (21.4%) was the major reason for elective admissions. We found 65% of all patients had underlying ILD and a greater proportion of patients with ILD were hospitalised (122 patients). Overall inpatient mortality was 9.3% and the leading cause for mortality was progressive pulmonary hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS

Among a large cohort of SSc patients who are followed at a tertiary scleroderma centre, 37.6 % had hospital admissions, while worsening pulmonary hypertension, ILD, cardiac involvement and infectious complications were the major cause of mortality and morbidity.