Table 1.
Classification and clinical course of the study population, i.e., 63 patients with rheumatic/vasculitic or connective tissue disease admitted to hospital and diagnosed to have pneumonia/pneumonitis
| Total admissions to hospital | Admissions for PNA (% of admissions) | FOB with BAL in PNA (% of PNA) | BAL-PCR for HSV-1 and CMV (% of FOB) | Positive HSV-1 BAL-PCR (% of PNA) | Requirement of intubation in PNA (% of PNA) | Mean and (median) age of patients with PNA in ys | Mean immuno-suppression severity score of patients with PNA* | Lethal outcome in PNA | |
| Wegener's Granulomatosis | 74 | 13 (18%) | 4 | 4 | 2 (cases 3, 5) | 2 | 66 (68) | 3.3 | 2 |
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 515 | 34 (7%) | 12 | 6 | 2 (cases 1,4) | 5 | 71 (74) | 1.5 | 3 |
| Polyangiits | 22 | 4 (18%) | 3 | 1 | 1 (case 2) | 0 | 63 (64) | 3.5 | 0 |
| Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) | 155 | 12 (8%) | 4 | 3 | 1 (case 6) | 1 | 53 (58) | 1.6 | 1 |
| total | 766 | 63 (8%) | 23 (37%) | 14 (61%) | 6 (10%) | 8 (12%) | 66 (66) | 2.0 | 6 (10%) |
Absolute numbers or percentages are given, (*) based on 56 of the 63 cases where information on immunosuppressive regimens was reliably available. In order to estimate the degree of immunosuppressive strength in the patient population, an arbitrary score ranging form 0–4 was applied (see methods). Abbreviations: BAL = bronchoalveolar lavage, FOB = fiberoptic bronchoscopy, PNA = pneumonia/pneumonitis, ys = years.