%0 Journal Article
%T The Risk Factors for Nosocomial Infection in Chinese Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis in Shanghai
%A Wei-Lin Xie
%A Zhuo-Ling Li
%A Zhen Xu
%A Huan-Ru Qu
%A Luan Xue
%A Xiao Su
%A Qiang-Hua Wei
%A Hui Wang
%A Miao-Ying Li
%A Fu-Tao Zhao
%A Lin-Di Jiang
%A Jiong Zhang
%A Wei-Guo Wan
%A Min Dai
%A Cheng-De Yang
%A Jian-Long Guan
%A Li Su
%A Dong-Bao Zhao
%A Dong-Yi He
%A Hu-Ji Xu
%A He-Jian Zou
%A Chun-De Bao
%J ISRN Rheumatology
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/215692
%X Objective. To analyse the potential risk factors of nosocomial infections in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. A total of 2452 active RA patients at Hospitals in Shanghai between January 2009 and February 2011 were analyzed. Their demographic and clinical characteristics were compared with those without infection, and the potential risk factors were determined by logistic regression analysis. Results. Multivariate analysis indicated the gender ( O R = 0 . 7 0 , 95% CI 0.53每0.92), duration in hospital ( O R = 1 . 0 3 , 95%CI 1.01每1.05), number of organs involved ( O R = 0 . 8 2 , 95%CI 0.72每0.92), number of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs ((DMARDs) ( O R = 1 . 2 2 , 95%CI 1.061每1.40)), corticosteroid therapy ( O R = 1 . 0 2 , 95%CI 1.01每1.03), peripheral white blood cell counts ((WBC) ( O R = 1 . 0 4 , 95%CI 1.00每1.08)), levels of serum albumin ( O R = 0 . 9 8 , 95%CI 0.97每0.99), and C-reactive protein ((CRP) ( O R = 1 . 0 3 , 95%CI 1.01每1.04)) that were significantly associated with the risk of infections. Conclusion. The female patients, longer hospital stay, more organs involved, more DMARDs, corticosteroid usage, high counts of WBC, lower serum albumin, and higher serum CRP were independent risk factors of infections in active RA patients. 1. Introduction RA is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with unknown etiology and has an increased risk of infection compared with the general population [1]. Previous studies have shown that microbial infection, particularly for genitourinary and bronchopulmonary infection, contributes to increased rate of mortality in RA patients [2, 3]. It has been a serious concern that RA patients acquire microbial infection during hospitalization. Notably, about 5每10% of RA patients may acquire a microbial infection after their admission, and the hospital-related infection rate in RA patients has been increasing in the USA and other countries during the past decades [4]. Those patients acquire infection with the common hospital-related drug-resistant pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacilli and, more recently, vancomycin-resistant enterococci [5]. More importantly, these nosocomial infections are difficult to control, leading to a high mortality, particularly in individuals with immunodisorder. Therefore, understanding potential risk factors associated with the high susceptibility will be of great significance in the prevention and control of nosocomial infection. RA patients have unbalanced immunoregulation and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.rheumatology/2012/215692/