Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of patients having severe infections versus those without severe infections
| No severe infection (n=143) | Severe infection (n=49) | P values | |
| Demographics | |||
| Age (years) | 56 (16–85) | 60 (22–82) | 0.023 |
| Gender (male, %) | 45 | 41 | 0.573 |
| Type of vasculitis (%) | 0.407 | ||
| GPA | 71 | 65 | |
| MPA | 13 | 20 | |
| EGPA | 16 | 14 | |
| Symptoms (%) | |||
| B-symptoms (night sweat, fever, unintentional weight loss) | 21 | 14 | 0.353 |
| Neuropathy | 27 | 24 | 0.774 |
| Sinusitis | 72 | 53 | 0.015 |
| Deafness/mastoiditis/otitis media | 31 | 22 | 0.266 |
| Arthralgia | 45 | 33 | 0.117 |
| Organ involvement (%) | |||
| CNS | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Subglottic/tracheal stenosis | 12 | 14 | 0.661 |
| Skin | 18 | 14 | 0.533 |
| Kidney | 44 | 51 | 0.398 |
| Eye | 29 | 17 | 0.112 |
| Others | 7 | 8 | 1 |
| ENT | 79 | 61 | 0.014 |
| Lung | 54 | 65 | 0.162 |
| Imaging findings (%) | |||
| Pulmonary cavities | 24 | 26 | 0.75 |
| Endobronchial | 20 | 41 | 0.004 |
| Severe bronchiectasis | 1 | 8 | 0.054 |
| Disease activity measures | |||
| BVAS | 6 (0–28) | 6 (0–18) | 0.602 |
| DEI | 6 (2–12) | 6 (2–10) | 0.848 |
| Laboratory values | |||
| Creatinine (µmol/L) | 86 (45–1451) | 98 (49–879) | 0.027 |
| eGFR (MDRD/Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation) mL/min/1.73 m2 | 75 (3–163) | 60 (5–155) | 0.002 |
| CRP (0–6 mg/L) | 5.0 (0.7–215.0) | 14.0 (1.0–215.0) | 0.001 |
| ESR (5–15 in the 1st hour) | 16 (2–116) | 22 (1–109) | 0.006 |
| Neutrophils (2–8×109/L) | 7.1 (2.0–18.6) | 8.3 (2.4–21.4) | 0.025 |
| WBC (4–11×109/L) | 9.4 (3.6–42.0) | 10.7 (3.3–24.4) | 0.006 |
| Lymphocytes (1–4.5×109/L) | 1.0 (0.1–3.7) | 1.0 (0.4–4.5) | 0.145 |
| CD19 (0.1–0.5) | 0.04 (0.00–0.80) | 0.03 (0.00–0.77) | 0.781 |
| CD3 (0.7–2.1) | 0.82 (0.05–7.20) | 0.70 (0.21–3.32) | 0.246 |
| CD4 (0.3–1.4) | 0.48 (0.03–1.98) | 0.38 (0.11–2.80) | 0.303 |
| CD8 (0.2–0.9) | 0.29 (0.02–1.93) | 0.20 (0.07–0.95) | 0.414 |
| CD56 (0.12–0.88) | 0.11 (0.00–0.70) | 0.15 (0.00–0.80) | 0.09 |
| IgG (6–13 g/L) | 9.0 (2.8–22.6) | 8.8 (3.0–18.9) | 0.823 |
| IgG decline ≥30% (%) | 20 | 35 | 0.041 |
| Hypogammaglobulinaemia (%) | 13 | 16 | 0.593 |
| IgM (0.4–2.2 g/L) | 0.7 (0.3–2.6) | 0.7 (0.3–2.0) | 0.398 |
| IgA (0.8–3.7 g/L) | 1.8 (0.4–5.3) | 2.1 (0.5–4.3) | 0.715 |
| ANCA-positive (%) | 73 | 76 | 0.703 |
| Comorbidities (%) | |||
| COPD | 1 | 6 | 0.053 |
| Diabetes | 6 | 18 | 0.021 |
| Hypertension | 37 | 33 | 0.557 |
| Myocardial infarction/reduced LVEF | 8 | 18 | 0.036 |
| Indication (%) | |||
| Minor relapse | 41 | 29 | 0.114 |
| Major relapse | 27 | 39 | 0.13 |
| Maintenance | 78 | 82 | 0.622 |
| Refractory disease | 31 | 27 | 0.516 |
| Steroid sparing | 17 | 22 | 0.375 |
| 1st line | 5 | 10 | 0.187 |
| Premedication (last 12 months) | |||
| CYC (g) | 0 (0–45) | 0 (0–22) | 0.632 |
| MMF (g) | 0 (0–1080) | 15 (0–1080) | 0.798 |
| AZA (g) | 0 (0–81) | 0 (0–72) | 0.036 |
| MTX (mg) | 0 (0–1286) | 0 (0–1286) | 0.739 |
| IVIG (ever) (%) | 4 | 12 | 0.128 |
| Anti-TNF (ever) (%) | 3 | 5 | 0.65 |
| PLEX (ever) (%) | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| ALM (ever) (%) | 5 | 14 | 0.079 |
| Medication used concurrently with RTX | |||
| Steroids (mg) | 15 (0–60) | 15 (5–60) | 0.087 |
| Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole (%) | 43 | 22 | 0.009 |
| Other antibiotic prophylaxis (%) | 9 | 16 | 0.172 |
Metric variables are shown as median and (minimum–maximum), nominal variables are shown as %. Statistics tests are χ quadrate test/Fisher’s exact test and Mann-Whitney U test where appropriate. The respective reference ranges, if applicable, are given in parentheses. P values indicating significant changes are highlighted in bold font.
ALM, alemtuzumab; ANCA, antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody; AZA, azathioprine; BVAS, Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score; CD, cluster of differentiation; CNS, central nervous system; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CRP, C reactive protein; CYC, cyclophosphamide; DEI, Disease Extent Index; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; EGPA, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis; ENT, ear, nose and throat; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; GPA, granulomatosis with polyangiitis; IVIG, intravenous immunoglobulins; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; MMF, mycophenolate mofetil; MPA, microscopic polyangiitis; MTX, methotrexate; PLEX, plasma exchange; RTX, rituximab; TNF, tumour necrosis factor; WBC, white blood count.