Incidence of infection in systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Abstract Twenty‐three patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 20 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and 11 with the nephrotic syndrome (NPS) were selected for study of factors affecting the incidence of infection in these diseases. The overall infection rate (infections per 100 hospital days) in patients with SLE was significantly higher than it was in patients with RA or NPS. Infection rate and the number of disseminated infections were found to increase in lupus patients with increasing doses of corticosteroids and decreasing renal function. Lupus patients with normal renal function on no or low‐dose corticosteroid therapy had an infection rate significantly higher than the infection rate of the control patient groups. This study suggests that the observed high infection rate in SLE cannot be attributed to steroid therapy and renal disease alone.