Cause of death in systemic lupus erythematosus: a pattern based on age at onset.

We reviewed the causes of death in 50 patients treated for systemic lupus erythematosus at the University of Mississippi Medical Center between 1973 and 1985. Two groups of patients could be distinguished based on the age at onset but not on the duration of disease. Younger patients more often died of active renal disease an infectious complications, while older patients died of other organ involvement, inactive renal disease, and miscellaneous causes. Common causes of infection were gram-positive cocci and gram-negative bacilli. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease was an infrequent cause of death, and no patients died of malignancy. Patients who died had more multisystemic involvement, with serositis and renal, central nervous system, and hematologic manifestations than patients who were alive at last follow-up.