Mortality in Lupus Declines between 2006 and 2016 Save

The largest study, to date, shows that in‐hospital mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has significantly improved between 2006 and 2016, with a high mortality burden among U.S. Blacks and Hispanics with lupus.

All‐cause mortality trends for hospitalized adults with were ascertained using the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample and compared SLE patients to the general hospitalized population (GHP) between 2006 and 2016. 

Among 340,467,049 hospitalizations there were 1,903,279 with a diagnosis of SLE. During this era (2006-2016) hospitalizations for SLE increased slightly from 0.5% (n=153,645) to 0.6% (n=173,749) (p-value <0.001).

In contrast, the risk of inpatient death decreased among hospitalized SLE patients from 2.2% to 1.5% (p‐value<0.001) between 2006 and 2016, with nearly all of the decrease in SLE mortality occurring between 2006 and 2008.  After 2008, mortality stabilized at a rate similar to the GHP.

Hospitalized deaths were higher for Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian/Pacific Islanders with SLE compared to whites with SLE, or GHP individuals of the same non‐white race/ethnicity without SLE. Older patients, men, and those with a higher comorbidity index score also had a higher mortaility risk hospitalization.

Thus, despite advances in lupus survival, there remains a disproportionately higher risk of death.in minorities with SLE.