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OPEN Associated clinical factors for

serious infections in patients with
systemic lupus erythematosus
Received: 31 July 2018 Ju-Yang Jung1, Dukyong Yoon2, Young Choi2, Hyoun-Ah Kim1 & Chang-Hee Suh   1
Accepted: 21 June 2019
Published: xx xx xxxx Infection occurs frequently in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and has been a major
cause of morbidity and mortality. However, no large-scale comprehensive studies have estimated
the effect of clinical characteristics on serious infection in actual clinical practice yet. We investigated
the influence of clinical characteristics on serious infections using electronic medical records data.
We conducted a nested case-control study. Patients with SLE who developed serious infection which
needs hospitalization or intravenous antibiotics (n = 120) were matched to controls (n = 240) who
didn’t. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for infection associated with clinical features
were obtained by conditional logistic regression analyses. The conditional logistic regression analysis
with adjustment showed that serositis (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.33–5.74), hematologic involvement (OR,
2.53; 95% CI, 1.32–4.87), and use of higher than the low dose of glucocorticoids (GCs; >7.5 mg/d
prednisolone-equivalent) (OR, 2.65; 95% CI, 1.31–5.34) were related to serious infections in SLE.
Serositis, hematologic involvement, and use of higher than the low dose of GCs were associated with
serious infections in patients with SLE.

Infection is a common and an important morbidity and a significant cause of death in patients with systemic
lupus erythematosus (SLE)1–4. The defense immune function of these patients against bacteria, virus, and fungus
has been found to be impaired, and opportunistic or serious infections develop frequently. Serious infections
requiring hospitalization or intravenous antibiotics injection are associated with mortality and known to occur
in 11–45% of patients with SLE5.
The defective phagocytosis of pathogens, unbalanced levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and
lack of complements have been suggested as major causes of vulnerability of patients with SLE to infection6–8.
Impaired immune functions cannot control the spread of pathogens and remove pathogens, effectively leading to
continuation or worsening of infections. The manifestations and severity of SLE vary depending on the degree of
uncontrolled autoimmune response or tissue invasion, which affects defense immunity. Most studies on infection
in SLE have found correlations between disease activity markers or manifestations and infections, suggesting that
imbalanced immune response with activated autoimmunity contributes to vulnerability of infection9–11.
Along with the intrinsic immune deregulations, the susceptibility to infection in terms of treatment also
increases. The use of immunosuppressive drugs, including glucocorticoids (GCs), has improved the prognosis
of SLE for several decades, making it possible to prevent patients with SLE from developing severe inflammation
that either threatens their life or caused organ damage. Although immunosuppressive therapy is effective and
essential in controlling disease activity, it has been found to be associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
osteoporosis and infection in patients with SLE12,13. The use of GCs has been shown to increase the risk of infec-
tion; however, some studies have not found a significant effect of GCs1,14–19. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been
revealed to not only control disease activity and prevent flare up or serious manifestations such as nephritis but
also to reduce serious infections in SLE5,20. Some studies have analyzed relationships between several immuno-
suppressive agents and infections in SLE, and concluded that the use of several immunosuppressive agents, such
as mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, showed no difference in the risk of infection and
mortality16. Due to these conflicting evidences, the need of clinicians to know what is really happen in real world
practice has been increasing.

1
Department of Rheumatology, Ajou University School of Medicine, 164 Worldcup-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, 16499,
Korea. 2Department of Biomedical Informatics, Ajou University School of Medicine, 164 Worldcup-ro, Yeongtong-gu,
Suwon, 16499, Korea. Ju-Yang Jung and Dukyong Yoon contributed equally. Correspondence and requests for
materials should be addressed to C.-H.S. (email: [email protected])

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Origin of Infection N Pathogens

Total cases 120
Bacterial infection 93
URI 30 Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (1)
Pneumonia 26 S. pneumoniae (2), Pseudomonas sp. (2), Acinetobacter (4), Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (1)
E.coli (7), Enterococcus faecium (8), Methicillin-resistant Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (2),
Urinary tract infection 22
Micrococcus (1)
GI tract infection 16 Vancomycin resistant E.coli (1)
Cellulitis 8 Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (1), Citrobacter and Serratia (1)
PID 6 E.coli (1), Enterococcus faecium (1),
Septic arthritis 3 Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (1)
E.coli (10), Enterococcus faecium (4), Pseudomonas sp.(2), Acinetobacter (9), S. pneumoniae (1),
Sepsis 24
Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (5), Proteus (1), Klebsiella (1)
Mycobacterial infection 7 Mycobacterium tuberculosis (7)
Fungal infection 3 Trichosporon asahii (1), Aspergillus (1), Candida (1)
Viral infection 1 Varicella zoster (1)

Table 1.  Origins of infection and pathogens. URI: upper respiratory infection, GI: gastrointestinal, PID: pelvic
inflammatory disease.

However, no large-scale comprehensive studies have evaluated the effect of diverse clinical characteristics on
serious infections in actual clinical practice yet. Therefore, we aimed to identify the clinical factors, including
patterns in actual clinical practice, associated with serious infections in patients with SLE using the electronic
medical records (EMRs) of a tertiary teaching hospital in Korea.

Results
Among the total of 120 cases with infection, 93 (77.5%) were bacterial infections with 40 (25%) upper res-
piratory tract infections, 26 (21.7%) pneumonia, 24 (20%) sepsis, 22 (18.3%) urinary tract infections, and 16
(13.3%) gastrointestinal tract infections (Table 1). Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecium were frequently
found as the confirmed pathogens for the urinary tract infections. Twenty-four patients had sepsis caused by E.
coli, E. faecium, Pseudomonas sp., Acinetobacter, Streptococcus pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus, Micrococcus, Proteus, and Klebsiella. In addition, seven and three patients had an infection caused by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis and fungi, respectively. Nine patients expired during follow-up, and the cause of
mortality in seven of them was infection.
Table 2 displays the general characteristics of the infection and control groups. The total case-control sam-
ple included 360 patients with SLE admitted between 1995 and 2015. Each control (n = 240) was matched with
two patients who developed infection (n = 120). The matching variables, including follow-up time and entry
year, were distributed evenly between the groups. The average follow-up time did not differ between the infec-
tion (1,000 ± 1,043 d) and control groups (1,000 ± 1,041 d). Regarding the laboratory test results, the hemo-
globin (11.1 ± 2.2/µL vs. 11.8 ± 1.7/µL, p = 0.001) and C3 (78.2 ± 40.2 mg/dL vs. 87.4 ± 39.5 mg/dL, p = 0.043)
levels were lower in the infection group than in the control group. The patients with infection had higher inci-
dences of clinical manifestations than the controls: nephritis (40.8% vs. 27.9%, p = 0.008), serositis (30.0% vs.
15.4%, p = 0.001), and hematologic involvement (41.7% vs. 22.9%, p < 0.001). Among the total patients, 314
(87.2%) patients took HCQ; those with infection less frequently took HCQ than the controls (80.0% vs. 90.8%,
p = 0.003). The total and daily GC doses were not significantly different between the infection group (total
5,227.3 ± 6,190.7 mg; 10.4 ± 14.6 mg/d prednisolone-equivalent) and control group (total, 4,585.4 ± 6,875.7 mg;
7.2 ± 14.5 mg/d prednisolone-equivalent; p = 0.24 and p = 0.1, respectively). The number of patients who took
higher than the low dose of GCs (>7.5 mg/d prednisolone-equivalent) (41.7%) was higher in the infection group
than in the control group (26.3%, p = 0.001). There was no difference in the development of serious infection
according to the immunosuppressive drugs (Table 3). As an ad-hoc analysis, we evaluated the dose response for
the average daily dose of GCs and serious infection risk. We found that a higher GC dose tended to be associated
with a higher risk of infections (Fig. 1).
Table 4 shows the results of the crude and adjusted conditional logistic regression analyses, which assessed the
association between the clinical characteristics and infection. Based on the crude odd ratios (ORs), as the hemo-
globin level increased by one unit, the risk of serious infection was shown to be 0.82 times lower (95% confidence
interval (CI) 0.73–0.92). The patients with nephritis had a 1.97 times higher risk of serious infection (95% CI,
1.19–3.28), and those with serositis had a 2.61 times higher risk (95% CI, 1.47–4.61). Hematologic involvement
increased, and the risk of serious infection was 2.48 times higher (95% CI, 1.52–4.06). The HCQ users had a 66%
lower risk of serious infection (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.16–0.69). The patients who took higher than the low dose of
GCs had a 2.34 times higher risk of serious infection (95% CI, 1.38–3.95). The adjusted OR for the risk of serious
infection in the patients with SLE who had serositis (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.33–5.74) and hematologic involve-
ment (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.32–4.87) and in those who took higher than the low dose of GCs (OR, 2.65; 95% CI,
1.31–5.34) was significantly higher.

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Variables Total (n = 360) Infection cases (n = 120) Controls (n = 240)

Age on diagnosis, years* 36.3 ± 13.0 36.0 ± 14.5 36.5 ± 12.1
Sex, female (%)* 323 (89.7) 106 (88.3) 217 (90.4)
WBC, /µL 6,708.1 ± 4,912.6 6,895.4 ± 5,038.8 6,614.5 ± 4,856.3
N/L ratio 7.6 ± 10.7 8.1 ± 12.7 7.4 ± 9.6
Hemoglobin, /µL 11.6 ± 1.9 11.1 ± 2.2 11.8 ± 1.7
Platelet, × 103/µL 206.7 ± 103.5 212.3 ± 108.8 204.0 ± 100.9
ESR, mm/h 35.5 ± 25.8 37.2 ± 30.9 34.6 ± 22.9
Complement 3, mg/dL 84.3 ± 39.9 78.2 ± 40.2 87.4 ± 39.5
Complement 4, mg/dL 18.9 ± 11.7 18.4 ± 13.4 19.2 ± 10.8
Anti-dsDNA Ab, IU 28.0 ± 34.9 31.7 ± 35.8 26.1 ± 34.4
Oral ulcer, n (%) 296 (82.2) 102 (85.0) 194 (80.8)
Arthritis, n (%) 241 (66.9) 76 (63.6) 165 (68.8)
Nephritis, n (%) 244 (67.8) 49 (40.8) 67 (27.9)
Serositis, n (%) 73 (20.3) 36 (30.0) 37 (15.4)
Hematologic involvement, n (%) 105 (29.2) 50 (41.7) 55 (22.9)
Hydroxychloroquine, n (%) 314 (87.2) 96 (80.0) 218 (90.8)
Total dose of GCs, mga 4,799.3 ± 6,653.5 5,227.3 ± 6,190.7 4,585.4 ± 6,875.7
Mean dose of GCs, mg/da 8.3 ± 14.6 10.4 ± 14.6 7.2 ± 14.5
Dose of GCs
≤7.5 mg/da 247 (68.6) 70 (58.3) 177 (73.8)
>7.5 mg/da 113 (31.4) 50 (41.7) 63 (26.3)
Immunosuppressive drugs 172 (47.8) 63 (52.5) 109 (45.4)
Survival time, days* 1,000 ± 1,040.2 1,000 ± 1,043.1 1,000 ± 1,040.9
Cohort entry, year*
1995–1997 8 (2.2) 3 (2.5) 5 (2.1)
1998–2000 4 (1.1) 1 (0.8) 3 (1.3)
2001–2003 52 (14.4) 17 (14.2) 35 (14.6)
2004–2006 97 (26.9) 34 (28.3) 63 (26.3)
2007–2009 80 (22.2) 25 (20.8) 55 (22.9)
2010–2012 87 (24.2) 30 (25.0) 57 (23.8)
2013–2015 32 (8.9) 10 (8.3) 22 (9.2)

Table 2.  Characteristics of the study participants matched on follow-up time and year of entry. *Matching
variable. WBC: white blood cells, N/L ratio: Neutrophils/Lymphocyte ratio, ESR: erythrocyte sedimentation
rate, dsDNA: double-strand deoxyribonucleic acid, Ab: antibody, GCs: glucocorticoids. aPrednisolone-
equivalent.

Drugs Total Infection case Control

Azathioprine, n (%), 101 (28.1) 35 (29.2) 66 (27.5)
MMF, n (%) 37 (10.3) 12 (10.0) 25 (10.4)
Tacrolimus, n (%) 31 (8.6) 16 (13.3) 15 (6.3)
Methotrexate, n (%) 29 (8.1) 13 (10.8) 16 (6.7)
Cyclophosphamide, n (%) 27 (7.5) 12 (10.0) 15 (6.3)

Table 3.  Proportions of the patients taking the immunosuppressive drugs. MMF: mycophenolate mofetil.

Discussion
In this nested case-control study, we analyzed 120 cases with infection and 240 controls who were divided by
the occurrence of serious infection with matching variables, including age, sex, the follow-up time, and year of
cohort entry. Our study found that serositis, hematologic involvement, and use of higher than the low dose of
GCs (>7.5 mg/d prednisone-equivalent) were significantly associated with serious infection in patients with SLE.
Many studies showed the disease-related markers were associated with infection in SLE. A higher SLE disease
activity index (SLEDAI), lower levels of complements, positive anti-dsDNA antibodies findings, nephritis at the
time of SLE diagnosis, frequent flare-ups, or longer follow-up duration were significantly associated with infec-
tion in SLE1,21–24. Unlike previous studies, this study demonstrated no significant correlation with SLEDAI or
anti-dsDNA antibody positivity, which represents disease activity. One of the reasons for the discrepancies with
the findings of previous studies might be the difference in the year of data. Most previous studies have collected
data in the 1990s; the treatment patterns and characteristics of disease in this period were different from those in

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Figure 1.  Dose-response analysis for the average daily dose of glucocorticoids (prednisolone-equivalent) in the
patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and serious infection risks. The odds ratios were adjusted for the
demographic factors, laboratory test results, comorbidity, and use of immunosuppressants. This figure shows
that an increased risk of serious infections tended to be related to increased glucocorticoid doses. The patients
who were not exposed to glucocorticoids were used as the reference group (gray dotted lines).

the 2000s. In recent reports, infection had not been correlated with disease activity markers, but with treatment
patterns15,25. In addition, this study collected serious infection cases requiring admission or intravenous antibi-
otics. Since the data on serious infections closely related to mortality were collected, the results might differ from
those of studies that investigated general infections.
Hemolytic anemia is a hematologic involvement, along with leukopenia, lymphopenia, and thrombocyto-
penia26,27. Hematologic involvements are a predictor of an active disease or poor prognosis in SLE, and a study
found the presence of hemolytic anemia increased the risk of mortality28–30. The neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was
reported as a good addictive marker for diagnosing infection in patients with SLE31. The white blood cell count,
neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and platelet count were not significantly different between the infection and control
groups; only the hemoglobin level was significantly different. A low hemoglobin level was found in the patients
with SLE with hemolytic anemia, iron deficiency, and anemia of chronic disease. After adjustment, hematologic
involvement was associated with serious infections in the patients with SLE. Vulnerability of the blood cells might
be related to significant deficiency of protective immunity.
Pericardial effusion or pleural effusion are typical features in lupus flare-up, and manifestations which are
assessed using chest X-ray or echocardiography when there is a possibility of diagnosis of SLE32. A study con-
ducted on 5,414 patients showed 30% had serositis during their illness. The frequency of serositis had been
reported to be 12–16% in European and Chinese patients with SLE33. An active disease status has been correlated
with the development of serositis in SLE, and the risk factors for pleuritic and pericarditis were not different34. The
association between serositis and infection has rarely been evaluated. Herein, serositis occurred more frequently
in the patients with serious infections than in those without serious infections. Serositis could be an associated
clinical factor for serious infections in SLE.
The use of >7.5 mg/d prednisolone-equivalent GCs was correlated with serious infections. A ≤7.5 mg/d
prednisolone-equivalent dose is considered a low dose of GCs; thus, a higher than the low dose of GCs increases
the risk of serious infections in SLE13. A higher dose of GCs is associated with risks of infection; a low dose GCs
may provide a better risk-benefit for patients with SLE not only in the management of acute flare ups but also
in the prevention of serious infections. This finding is consistent with that of other existing reports that studied
diverse autoimmune inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, SLE, and inflammatory bowel
disease15,35,36.
Findings on the impact of immunosuppressive drugs on the risk of infection in SLE has been conflicting. In
some studies, immunosuppressants have been shown to increase the risk of infection; in others studies, they have
not1,16,17,22,24. In general, the use of immunosuppressants was associated with infection when all types of infections
were analyzed, but not when serious infections were investigated. Herein, serious infections were not associated
with the use of immunosuppressants.
This study has some limitations. It lacked detailed information on infections or the tissue damages caused by
SLE. However, the patients and controls were selected from the same EMR source; thus selection bias was mini-
mized compared with a traditional case-based case-control study. In addition, all data, except for the symptoms,
were extracted from the EMRs, which indicates that the probability of selection bias is low. The results of this
study should be limited to cases of serious infection requiring hospitalization. Clinical manifestation in mild

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Variables COR 95% CI p AOR 95% CI p

Age on diagnosis, years 1.00 0.98 1.02 0.73 1.00 0.98 1.02 0.898
Sex
Male 1.00 1.00
Female 0.81 0.4 1.62 0.548 0.9 0.38 2.14 0.793
WBC 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.604 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.234
N/L ratio 1.01 0.99 1.03 0.556 0.99 0.97 1.02 0.595
Hemoglobin, /µL 0.82 0.73 0.92 0.001 0.89 0.76 1.03 0.125
Platelet, x 103/µL 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.462 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.183
ESR, mm/h 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.363 1.00 0.99 1.01 0.78
Complement 3, mg/dL 0.99 0.99 1.00 0.043 1.00 0.99 1.01 0.63
Complement 4, mg/dL 0.99 0.97 1.01 0.538 1.01 0.98 1.05 0.544
Anti-dsDNA Ab 1.00 1.00 1.01 0.162 1.00 0.99 1.01 0.833
Oral ulcer, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 0.72 0.38 1.35 0.297 0.77 0.36 1.67 0.509
Arthritis, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 1.28 0.8 2.05 0.297 1.38 0.78 2.47 0.273
Nephritis, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 1.97 1.19 3.28 0.008 1.18 0.61 2.29 0.632
Serositis, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 2.61 1.47 4.61 0.001 2.76 1.33 5.74 0.007
Hematologic involvement, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 2.48 1.52 4.06 <0.001 2.53 1.32 4.87 0.005
Hydroxychloroquine, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 0.34 0.16 0.69 0.003 0.42 0.17 1.03 0.06
Mean GCs dose
≤7.5 mg/da 1.00 1.00
>7.5 mg/da 2.34 1.38 3.95 0.001 2.65 1.31 5.34 0.007
Immunosuppressive drugs, n (%)
No 1.00 1.00
Yes 1.39 0.87 2.23 0.171 0.67 0.35 1.27 0.22

Table 4.  The results of conditional logistic regression, assessing the association between serious infection
and clinical characteristics in systemic lupus erythematosus. COR: crude odds ratio, CI: confidence intervals,
AOR: adjusted odds ratio, WBC: white blood cells, N/L ratio: Neutrophils/Lymphocyte ratio, ESR: erythrocyte
sedimentation rate, dsDNA: double-strand deoxyribonucleic acid, Ab: antibody, GCs: glucocorticoids.
a
Prednisolone-equivalent.

infection such as upper respiratory infection or cystitis, which are controlled by oral antibiotics, might be differ-
ent. In addition, an admission to hospital could be another vulnerable factor against infection.
Our study findings suggest that serositis, hematologic involvement, and use of higher than the low dose GCs
(>7.5 mg/d prednisolone-equivalent) are significantly correlated with serious infection in patients with SLE in
actual clinical settings. Patients who have one or more of those clinical features require close monitoring. An
appropriate dose of GCs is required to achieve favorable risk-benefit balance.

Methods
Data source and study participants.  EMR data from a tertiary teaching hospital in Korea (Ajou
University Hospital) were used for the analysis (Fig. 2). The EMR data included information regarding unique
de-identified numbers for the patients, age, sex, diagnostic codes, admission, discharge, laboratory test results,
and prescribed medications/treatments. We selected patients with SLE admitted between 1995 and 2015. The
patients who satisfied the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology
classification criteria for SLE and received standard-of-care treatment for SLE were enrolled37. The results of the
laboratory tests, including complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and complement levels
(C3 and C4); antinuclear antibody test; and anti-double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (anti-dsDNA) antibody
test were collected. Data on cumulative manifestations, including oral ulcer, malar rash, alopecia, arthritis, and

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Figure 2.  Study flow chart. Among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in the study hospital, patients
with serious infections needing hospitalization or intravenous antibiotic injection were matched with controls
without serious infections.

renal disease, were also obtained. Comprehensive medication histories were obtained, including the use of GCs
and immunosuppressant agents. The patients with SLE were observed from the date of first SLE diagnosis to the
earliest incidence of infection, mortality, date of latest hospital visit, or end of the study period (May 31, 2015),
whichever occurred first.

Study design and definition of cases and controls.  This study used a nested case-control design within
a cohort to investigate the association between diverse clinical characteristics, including the use of GCs, and seri-
ous infection, which was defined as an infection needing intravenous antibiotic injections for more than 3 d and
hospitalization. A nested case-control design was used because of the immortal time bias that can occur when
measuring the cumulative dose of GCs. In this nested case-control study using the risk set sampling method, seri-
ous infection was identified using the following criteria: (1) the infection date was the prescribed date of antibi-
otics, which was considered the index date; (2) the period of antibiotic use was longer than 3 d; and (3) infections
with antibiotic prescriptions within 7 d after the first antibiotic prescription were considered the same infection.
Controls were selected from the cohort of patients with SLE who were at a risk of developing an infection at the
time infection occurred in some patients; each control had to be alive at the time of infection occurrence in the
cohort. The controls were randomly selected from the risk set of patients with SLE after they were matched for
the time of entry year (±1 year) and duration of follow-up. For the 120 infection cases, they were individually
matched at a 1:2 ratio (n = 240).

Covariates.  All covariates were assessed using all information before or at the index date. Demographic fac-
tors, laboratory test results, and comorbidity for infection were included in this study. The demographic factors
included sex and age. The laboratory test results included the white blood cell count, neutrophil/lymphocyte
ratio, hemoglobin level, platelet count, ESR, C3 and C4 levels, and anti-dsDNA antibody level. Because the sub-
ject enrolled in the study were SLE patients who were regularly managed in the hospital and all the labora-
tory test results were included in the components required for lupus management, there was no missing value.
Comorbidity was identified from the diagnoses before the index date (oral ulcer, arthritis, nephritis, serositis, and
hematologic involvement based on the diagnostic code). Immunosuppressants (e.g., azathioprine, mycophenolate
mofetil, tacrolimus, methotrexate, and cyclophosphamide) were considered potential confounders for infection
in the patients with SLE.
All GCs prescribed before the index date were identified from the EMRs. The dose of the GCs was converted
to the equivalent dose of prednisolone (5 mg = methylprednisolone 4 mg = deflazacort 6 mg = triamcinolone
4 mg = hydrocortisone 20 mg)38,39. We defined the mean GC dose as the average dose across the prescription period.

Statistical analysis.  Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the patient characteristics, laboratory test
results, comorbidity, and medication use in the patients with infection and matched controls. The groups were
matched according to the follow-up time and year of cohort entry; however, these measures did not differ signif-
icantly. Because matched dataset was used for analysis, conditional logistic regression analysis was conducted to
estimate the ORs and 95% CIs to assess the association between the clinical characteristics and serious infection
in the patients with SLE. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. All statistical analyses were
conducted using the R software.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate.  This study was approved and informed consent was
waived by the Institutional Review Board of Ajou University Hospital (AJURB-MED-MDB-17-126) because the
anonymized data was analyzed retrospectively.

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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health
Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant
number: HI16C0992, HI17C0970, and Government-wide R&D Fund project for infectious disease research,
HG18C0067).

Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: C.H.S. Collected the data and performed the statistical analysis: D.Y.
and Y.C. and J.Y.J. Interpreted the data, and drafted and revised the manuscript: J.Y.J., Y.C., D.Y., H.A.K. and
C.H.S. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional Information
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