Short-term outcome of patients with adult IgA vasculitis: a single-center experience.

Background: Follow-up data on IgA vasculitis (IgAV) in adults are scarce. We aimed to investigate the outcome of adult IgAV in a well-defined cohort. Methods: Data from histologically proven patients diagnosed between January 2010 and July 2022 with at least a 3-month follow-up were analyzed. The frequency and type of relapses and information on kidney function were extracted. Risk factors for IgAV relapse and decline in renal function were studied using the Cox hazards regression analysis. Mortality in IgAV was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR). Results: In total, 265 patients were followed for a median of 24 months. At baseline, 38.9, 29.8, and 44.5% had articular, gastrointestinal, and renal involvement, respectively. Initially, 189 (71.3%) patients received systemic glucocorticoids, and 32 (12.1%) patients received an additional immunomodulator. During follow-up, 42 (15.8%) patients relapsed. Relapses were more common in younger patients (HR 1.03 [95%CI 1.01-1.05]) and those without baseline glucocorticoid treatment (HR 3.70 [95%CI 2.0-6.67]). Furthermore, 74 (27.9%) patients had persistent abnormal urinalysis and a substantial (≥20%) decline in glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was recorded in 41 (15.5%) patients. The factors associated with persistent abnormal urinalysis were an absence of IgAV joint involvement and baseline immunomodulatory treatment. Pre-existent chronic kidney disease and heart failure were associated with eGFR decline. The overall SMR was 1.4 (95%CI 1.14-1.71) compared to the Slovenian general population. Conclusion: IgAV relapses occurred in 15% of patients, with younger patients with symptomatically managed IgAV experiencing it more frequently. Heart failure emerged as a predictor of persistent abnormal urinalysis and a decline in eGFR. Adults with IgAV had increased mortality compared to the general population.

The incidence of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies in the adult Slovenian population.

Idiopathic Inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are rare disorders. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of IIM in a well-defined Slovenian region. This retrospective study was conducted at the Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, the only secondary/tertiary rheumatology center in a region with a population of 704,342 adults. We identified potential IIM cases by searching the electronic patient records for ICD-10 codes M33, M35.1, M35.8, M60, G72, G73, and J84. We included incipient IIM cases between January 2010 and December 2017, who were at the time of the diagnosis, residents of the inspected region. To avoid under-reporting due to miscoded cases, we obtained a list of the patients who had histological patterns consistent with IIM on muscle biopsy from the Institute of Pathology. The annual incidence rate for IIM was calculated. During the eight-year observation period, we identified 65 IIM cases (72.3% female, median (IQR) patient age 64.8 (54.8-73.2) years). The estimated annual incidence of IIM in the studied population was 11.5 (95% CI 9.0-14.6) per 106 adults, in females 16.2 (95% CI 12.1-21.4), and in males 6.6 (95% CI 4.0-10.2) per 106 adults. The incidence rate of IIM in Slovenia is consistent with data from the literature.

Antiphospholipid antibodies in adult IgA vasculitis: observational study.

We evaluated the occurrence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in acute adult IgA vasculitis (IgAV), and potential correlations with IgAV clinical presentation. We determined lupus anticoagulants (LAs) and IgG, IgM, and IgA isotypes of anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL), antibodies against ß2-glycoprotein I (aß2GPI) and against the phosphatidylserine-prothrombin complex (aPS/PT) in prospectively collected, histologically proven IgAV, diagnosed for the first time between January 2013 and February 2018 at our secondary/tertiary rheumatology center. During the 62 months, we determined aPLs in 125 IgAV patients (56.8% male; median (IQR) age 64.7 (48.6-78.2) years). Sixty-four (51.2%) patients had aPLs. We found LAs, aPS/PT, aß2GPI, and aCL in 24.8%, 21.6%, 13.6%, and 11.2% of cases, respectively. With 17.6%, the IgA aPS/PT was the most common aPL subtype. aPL-positive and aPL-negative patients did not differ in the clinical presentation of acute IgAV or in the frequency of thrombotic events. aPL-positive IgAV patients had significantly higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p < 0.001), and C-reactive protein (p < 0.001). The subset of IgA aPS/PT-positive patients more commonly had renal involvement in acute disease (RR 2.4 (95% CI 1.6-3.7)). aPLs are commonly detected during acute IgAV episodes. Patients with aPLs have similar clinical presentation, but higher markers of inflammation at than those without them. The subset of IgAV patients with IgA aPS/PT more commonly had renal involvement.