Prevalencia de complicaciones infecciosas en pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico en dirección hospitalaria Guayaquil periodo 2021 - 2023.

Abstract

Introduction: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune, multisystemic, and chronic disease characterized by excessive production of autoantibodies leading to tissue damage; its clinical presentation is heterogeneous with difficulty in diagnosis and high morbidity and mortality. Objective: To determine the prevalence of infectious complications in patients diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus at the Hospital Direction in Guayaquil during the period 2021-2023. Methodology: The research design was non-experimental, observational, cross-sectional, and retrospective with a bivariate correlational analysis; the population consisted of patients diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, treated at the Hospital Direction in Guayaquil from 2021 to 2023, totaling 86 patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The study included 86 patients with SLE, with a gender distribution of 74.4% females and 25.6% males. 68.6% of the patients presented acute symptoms, while 30.2% received treatment with hydroxychloroquine and immunosuppressants. Most of the identified infections were of bacterial origin, with the Herpes zoster virus being the most frequently identified microorganism (16.7%). 100% of the patients responded positively to empirical treatment for infectious complications, and the majority did not require blood cultures with antibiograms. Regarding the severity of SLE, 38.4% of the patients had mild activity, followed by 30.2% with moderate activity and 27.9% with severe activity. Conclusions: The results indicate a high prevalence of acute symptoms in the studied SLE patients. Bacterial infections were the most common, and the effectiveness of empirical treatment was high; however, a significant distribution of SLE severity was observed in the studied sample, with a considerable proportion of patients having mild, moderate, and severe activity.