Association between Functional Independence Measure and mortality in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: A single-center observational study

• Published in: Modern rheumatology Vol. 31; no. 2; pp. 399 - 407
• Main Authors: Shimamura, Yoshinosuke, Maeda, Takuto, Abe, Koki, Ogawa, Yayoi, Takizawa, Hideki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 04.03.2021
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis; Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis - mortality; Female; Functional Independence Measure; Functional Status; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Proportional Hazards Models; vasculitis mortality; vasculitis mortality; Functional Independence Measure; Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis
• ISSN: 1439-7595; 1439-7609
• DOI: 10.1080/14397595.2020.1740393

Previous studies have identified several predictors of mortality in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV). However, functional dependence as a predictor of mortality has never been reported. In this study, we investigated whether Functional Independence Measure (FIM) was associated with mortality in AAV patients. We analyzed 52 adults with biopsy-proven AAV in Teine Keijinkai Medical Center between January 2000 and March 2019. Adjusted Cox regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between three FIM-based groups and all-cause mortality. Estimates were calculated as hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). During a median follow-up of 2.3 years (interquartile range, 0.7-4.6 years), death occurred in 15 patients (29%). Compared to the highest-FIM group (91-126 points), the adjusted hazard ratios for the intermediate- (55-90 points) and lowest-FIM (18-54 points) groups were 3.59 (95% CIs, 0.40-32.0) and 15.7 (95% CIs, 2.07-119) for all-cause mortality, respectively. In addition, the lower-FIM groups were associated with higher mortality (p=.0179). This study suggested that the FIM score is a predictor of all-cause mortality in AAV patients. Future studies will have to investigate whether FIM assessment leads to better outcomes.