Very little is known about the outcome of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases in intensive care units (ICU). This retrospective study investigated the results of intensive medical treatment in these patients and the reliability of scoring systems used for the prediction of survival.
A case group consisting of 50 patients suffering from inflammatory rheumatic diseases was generated by analysis of patient records from the ICU at the University Hospital for Internal Medicine in Halle (Saale) in the years 2001-2010. The APACHE II score and SAPS II were used to estimate the probable mortality rate. The data were compared to those of a control group consisting of 72 patients treated on the ICU and suffering from non-inflammatory joint diseases.
In the case group a higher mortality rate (38 % vs. 20.8 %) and a higher frequency of respiratory, nephrogenic and cardiovascular complications were observed. In addition, these patients more often underwent artificial ventilation (66 % vs. 35 %) and had a higher rate of infections (74 % vs. 40.3 %) compared to the control group. In patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases the SAPS II was not useful for correctly predicting mortality, whereas the APACHE II score showed sufficient agreement with the actual mortality rate.
Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases displayed a poorer outcome compared with the control group in the course of the intensive care treatment. Universally applied scoring systems used to predict mortality are of limited value in this patient population.