Wegener's Granulomatosis | Predictors for Survival

 

Patient selection: 50 patients with WG in Turkey

 

Predictors of poor survival:

(1) initial vasculitis damage index (VDI)

(2) age at onset

Factor	Survivors	Nonsurvivors
initial VDI	2.6 +/- 1.4 (mild)	4.8 +/- 1.8
age	41.2 +/- 12.3 (younger)	56.5 +/- 9.8

 

Looking at the ranges given, the following cutoffs are used in the implementation:

(1) age: better < 46, indeterminate 46 to 54, worse > 54

(2) initial VDI: better 1 or 2, indeterminate 3 or 4, worse 5 or above

 

A better outcome tended to be associated with:

(1) aggressive management with immunosuppressive agents

(2) adjusted to prevent or minimize relapses

 

The data in Table 2 (page 376) on corticosteroid and cyclosporine dosing may be skewed by the length of followup for survivors vs nonsurvivors.

 

The authors found that the damage from WG outweighed complications of management.