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TOPLINE:
Drug use disorder increased the likelihood of in-hospital mortality more than 10-fold in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), compared with patients who did not die while hospitalized.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers reviewed data from 2,125 adults with AS who were hospitalized between 2015 and 2017, using the Cerner Health Facts Database.
- The final analysis included 41 patients with AS who died while hospitalized and 260 random control patients with AS who did not die.
- The mean age of the deceased patients with AS was 70 years, 85% were male, and 81% were White; 71% had hypertension, 32% had kidney disease, and 22% had congestive heart failure.
TAKEAWAY:
- Among the patients with AS, cardiovascular disease was the most frequent cause of death, followed by infection, respiratory failure, and fracture/trauma in 15, 14, 8, and 7 patients, respectively. (Some patients had more than one cause of death recorded in the discharge summary.)
- The most common cardiac causes of death were myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest, while the top causes of acute respiratory failure were pneumonia and pulmonary embolism.
- Drug abuse, including opioid dependence, was significantly associated with death among hospitalized patients with AS (adjusted odds ratio, 10.9; P = .001).
- Heart failure and kidney disease were the comorbidities most strongly associated with mortality; the odds of death in the presence of heart failure rose 2.76-fold, and it increased 2.46-fold in the presence of kidney disease.
IN PRACTICE:
Underlying comorbidities, especially cardiac and renal, are associated with mortality in AS, and patients should be screened early on for these comorbidities to help reduce the odds of death.
SOURCE:
First author Mohamad Bittar, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, and colleagues reported their findings in Clinical Rheumatology).
LIMITATIONS:
The study lacked AS-specific data such as disease activity scores, which were not in the database. Also missing were variables linked to disease activity and mortality, including smoking, BMI levels, and C-reactive protein levels.
DISCLOSURES:
The study received no outside funding. Several coauthors disclosed financial relationships with UCB, Amgen, Pfizer, AbbVie, Novartis, and Eli Lilly.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
TOPLINE:
Drug use disorder increased the likelihood of in-hospital mortality more than 10-fold in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), compared with patients who did not die while hospitalized.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers reviewed data from 2,125 adults with AS who were hospitalized between 2015 and 2017, using the Cerner Health Facts Database.
- The final analysis included 41 patients with AS who died while hospitalized and 260 random control patients with AS who did not die.
- The mean age of the deceased patients with AS was 70 years, 85% were male, and 81% were White; 71% had hypertension, 32% had kidney disease, and 22% had congestive heart failure.
TAKEAWAY:
- Among the patients with AS, cardiovascular disease was the most frequent cause of death, followed by infection, respiratory failure, and fracture/trauma in 15, 14, 8, and 7 patients, respectively. (Some patients had more than one cause of death recorded in the discharge summary.)
- The most common cardiac causes of death were myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest, while the top causes of acute respiratory failure were pneumonia and pulmonary embolism.
- Drug abuse, including opioid dependence, was significantly associated with death among hospitalized patients with AS (adjusted odds ratio, 10.9; P = .001).
- Heart failure and kidney disease were the comorbidities most strongly associated with mortality; the odds of death in the presence of heart failure rose 2.76-fold, and it increased 2.46-fold in the presence of kidney disease.
IN PRACTICE:
Underlying comorbidities, especially cardiac and renal, are associated with mortality in AS, and patients should be screened early on for these comorbidities to help reduce the odds of death.
SOURCE:
First author Mohamad Bittar, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, and colleagues reported their findings in Clinical Rheumatology).
LIMITATIONS:
The study lacked AS-specific data such as disease activity scores, which were not in the database. Also missing were variables linked to disease activity and mortality, including smoking, BMI levels, and C-reactive protein levels.
DISCLOSURES:
The study received no outside funding. Several coauthors disclosed financial relationships with UCB, Amgen, Pfizer, AbbVie, Novartis, and Eli Lilly.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
TOPLINE:
Drug use disorder increased the likelihood of in-hospital mortality more than 10-fold in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), compared with patients who did not die while hospitalized.
METHODOLOGY:
- Researchers reviewed data from 2,125 adults with AS who were hospitalized between 2015 and 2017, using the Cerner Health Facts Database.
- The final analysis included 41 patients with AS who died while hospitalized and 260 random control patients with AS who did not die.
- The mean age of the deceased patients with AS was 70 years, 85% were male, and 81% were White; 71% had hypertension, 32% had kidney disease, and 22% had congestive heart failure.
TAKEAWAY:
- Among the patients with AS, cardiovascular disease was the most frequent cause of death, followed by infection, respiratory failure, and fracture/trauma in 15, 14, 8, and 7 patients, respectively. (Some patients had more than one cause of death recorded in the discharge summary.)
- The most common cardiac causes of death were myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest, while the top causes of acute respiratory failure were pneumonia and pulmonary embolism.
- Drug abuse, including opioid dependence, was significantly associated with death among hospitalized patients with AS (adjusted odds ratio, 10.9; P = .001).
- Heart failure and kidney disease were the comorbidities most strongly associated with mortality; the odds of death in the presence of heart failure rose 2.76-fold, and it increased 2.46-fold in the presence of kidney disease.
IN PRACTICE:
Underlying comorbidities, especially cardiac and renal, are associated with mortality in AS, and patients should be screened early on for these comorbidities to help reduce the odds of death.
SOURCE:
First author Mohamad Bittar, MD, of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, and colleagues reported their findings in Clinical Rheumatology).
LIMITATIONS:
The study lacked AS-specific data such as disease activity scores, which were not in the database. Also missing were variables linked to disease activity and mortality, including smoking, BMI levels, and C-reactive protein levels.
DISCLOSURES:
The study received no outside funding. Several coauthors disclosed financial relationships with UCB, Amgen, Pfizer, AbbVie, Novartis, and Eli Lilly.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.